THE  COLONIAL  HOMES 
OF  PHILADELPHL^  & 
ITS  NEIGHBOURHOOD 

HAROLD  DONALDSON  EBERLEIN 
HORACE  MATHER  LIPPINCOTT 


GIFT   OF 
MARY  JVCKSCH 


THE  COLONIAL  HOMES 
OF  PHILADELPHIA 

AND  ITS  NEIGHBOURHOOD 


THIS  LIMITED  EDITION  HAS  BEEN  PRINTED  FROM 
TYPE  AND  THE  TYPE  DISTRIBUTED 


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THE 

COLONIAL    HOMES 
OF  PHILADELPHIA 

AND  ITS  NEIGHBOURHOOD 

BY 

HAROLD    DONALDSON   EBERLEIN 

AND 

HORACE  MATHER  LIPPINCOTT 

WITH  72  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Glen.  Fern 


^■'V/'',«i1',- 


S.^© 


PHILADELPHIA  AND  LONDON 
J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


1912 


(^■. 


s 


COPYRIGHT.  1912.  BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


PUBLISHED,  OCTOBER,  1912 


PRINTED   BY  ./.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 

AT   THE    WASHINGTON  SQUARE  PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA,  U.  S.  A. 


FOREWORD 


As  this  book  goes  to  press,  a  pageant  is  going  forward 
on  Belmont  Field  representing  some  of  the  most  dramatic 
episodes  in  the  course  of  Philadelphia's  history.  Excellent 
as  it  is  and  lively  as  are  its  presentations  of  historic  fact, 
it  needs  but  the  seeing  eye  and  a  knowledge  of  the  Colonial 
homes  the  following  pages  aim  to  impart  to  convince 
one  that  we  live  in  the  midst  of  a  richly  historic  setting — an 
enduring  pageant  if  you  please  so  to  regard  it — unsur- 
passed for  interest  and  beauty  in  any  part  of  our  country. 
The  scarcity  of  historic  remains  and  ancient  buildings  in 
so  many  parts  of  America  makes  it  incumbent  upon  us  to 
cherish  and  value  the  good  things  that  are  left  to  us. 
It  is  doubly  incumbent  upon  all,  whether  Philadelphians 
or  not,  to  regard  reverently  the  visible  links  that  bind  us 
to  the  stirring  events  of  our  early  national  existence 
with  which  all  Americans  are  concerned,  the  stable  wit- 
nesses to  the  vigorous  life  of  those  sterling  forebears 
whence  we  are  sprung.  A  fuller  knowledge  of  the  places 
treated  herein  will  clothe  the  men  and  women  of  bygone 
days  with  a  living  reality  for  us  and  breathe  new  life  into 
an  honourable  past. 

It  is  matter  for  sincere  regret  that  some  of  the  noble 
places,  such  as  Pennsbury  or  Fairhill,  that  have  unfor- 
tunately been  demolished,  could  not  have  been  described, 
but  the  limits  of  reasonable  space  forbade  and  it  was 
deemed  better  to  focus  attention  on  the  houses  still 
standing. 

It  has  been  the  privilege  of  the  authors  to  know  and 
enjoy,  almost  from  infancy,  many  of  the  Colonial  houses 


258731 


FORKWOHl) 


(Icscrihcd  in  the  ensuing  pages,  and  the  pre2)aration  of  this 
vohmie  has  been  peenharly  a  kibour  of  love.  They  would 
share  their  pleasure  more  broadly  and  trust  that  their 
readers  nmy  come  to  regard  these  ancient  homes  of  worthy 
folk  with  a  like  affection. 

Great  thanks  are  due  to  all  who  have  rendered  assist- 
ance by  supplying  information  or  granting  access  to 
family  records  and  papers.  The  writers  take  this  occasion 
to  express  their  deep  gratitude  and  appreciation.  They 
likewise  acknowledge  their  indebtedness  to  Thomas  Allen 
Glenn's  "  Colonial  JMajisions  "  for  material  in  the  chapter 
on  Graeme  Park.  They  feel,  too,  that  a  special  note  of 
recognition  is  due  the  staff  of  the  Pennsylvania  Historical 
Society  for  their  unfailing  courtesy  and  helpfulness.  May 
the  readers  have  as  much  pleasure  in  perusal  as  the  writers 
had  in  preparation. 


Harold  Donaldson  Eberlein 
Horace  Mather  Lippincott 


Philadelphia,  October  5,  1912. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

OLD  PHILADELPHIA 11 

BISHOP  WHITE  HOUSE 27 

STOCKER  HOUSE 33 

WALN  HOUSE 36 

BLACKWELL  HOUSE 42 

Families:  Stamper,  Bingham,  Blackwell,  Willing. 

EVANS  HOUSE 48 

POWEL  HOUSE 52 

Families:  Powel,  Baring,  Rawle. 

RANDOLPH  HOUSE 57 

Families:  Hill,  Physick,  Randolph,  Keith. 

WHARTON  HOUSE 59 

Families:  Lewis,  Fisher,  Wharton. 

WISTAR  HOUSE 64 

Families:  Shippen,  Wistar,  Tyson. 

MORRIS  HOUSE 69 

Families:  Reynolds,  Dunkin,  Morris. 

BONAPARTE  HOUSE 76 

Families:  Meany,  Price,  Potter,  James. 

PROVOST  SMITH'S  HOUSE 80 

THE  WOODLANDS 84 

Family:  Hamilton. 

BARTRAM  HOUSE 94 

Families:    Bartram,  Eastwick. 

WHITBY  HALL 98 

Families:  Coultas,  Gray,  Thomas. 

THE  SOLITUDE 108 

Family:  Penn. 

CLUNIE— MOUNT  PLEASANT 113 

Families:  Macpherson,  Arnold,  Shippen,  Williams. 

3 


("OXTKXTS 


URMISTON 122 

Family:  Gallowat. 

LAIHEL  HILL 125 

Families:  Soute.  Rawle,  Piitsick,  Randolph. 

WOODFORD 133 

Families:  Coleman,  Barclay,  Franks,  Paschall,  Lewis,  Wharton. 

BELMONT 141 

Family:  Peters. 

PEN'COYD 150 

Family:  Roberts. 

WYNNESTAY 153 

Famiues:  Wynne,  Smedley. 

THE  GRANGE 158 

Families:    Lewis,    Wilcox,    Cruickshank,    Ross,     Bhinton,    Eyre, 
Ash  HURST. 

HARRITON 167 

Families:  Ellis,  Harrison,  Thomson,  Morris,  Vadx. 

WAYNESBOROUGH 170 

Family:  Wayne. 

MOORE  HALL 188 

Families:  Moore,  Pennypackeb. 

VAUX  HILI^FATLAND 189 

Families:  Vaux,  Bakewell,  Wetherill. 

MILL  GROVE 199 

Families:  Morgan,  Evans,  Penn,  Audubon,  Wetherill. 

STENTON 203 

Family:  Logan. 

LOIDOI'N 214 

Families:  .\kmat,  Logan. 

GRlMliLKTMORl'E 217 

Family:  Wistkk. 

4 


CONTENTS 


VERNON 224 

Families:  Matthews,  Wister. 

PEROT— MORRIS  HOUSE 225 

Families:  Deschler,  Perot,  Morris. 

WYCK 286 

Families:  Jansen,  Wistar,  Haines. 

JOHNSON  HOUSE 239 

Family:  Johnson. 

CLIVEDEN 242 

Family:  Chew. 

UPSALA 255 

Family:  Johnson. 

CARLTON 257 

Families:  Turner,  Ashmead,  Hill,  Lee,  Craig,  Smith. 

SPRING  BANK 262 

Families:  Rittenhouse,     Care,    Pratt,    Mason,    Lowber,    Wei^h, 
Smith. 

GLEN  FERN 267 

Families:  Shoemaker,  Livezet. 

HOPE  LODGE 277 

Families:  Morris,  West,  Watmough,  Sergeant,  Reed,  Wentz. 

THE  HIGHLANDS 281 

Families:  Morris,  Hitner,  Sheaff. 

THE  WHITPAIN  AND  WHITEMARSH  ENCAMPMENTS: 

DAWESFIELD 284 

Families:  Morris,  Lewis. 

EMLEN  HOUSE 284 

Family:  Emlen. 

PENNYPACKER'S  MILLS 289 

Families:  Heijt,  Pawling,  Pennypacker. 

GRAEME  PARK 298 

Families:  Keith,  Graeme,  Fergusson,  Smith,  Penrose. 

5 


('()\Ti:\TS 


THK  I\  V 305 

I'AMii.irs:  Wall,  Shoemaker,  Bosler. 

URY  HorSK 312 

Families:  Tayu)H,  Fisuer,  Crawford. 

CEDAR  C.ROVE 318 

l'AMiLit:a:  Pashiall,  Morris. 

CHALKT.KY  HALL 325 

F.viiiLiE.s:  Chalki-ev,  James,  Yorke,  Wetherill. 

WALN  GRO\^ 334 

Family:  Waln. 

PORT  ROYAL  HOUSE 339 

Families:  Stiles,  Lukens. 

AND.\LUSL\ 343 

Families:  Craig,  Biddle. 

PEN  RHYN 345 

Famiues:  Bickley,  Wharton-Bickley,  Drexel,  Emmet. 

BOLTON  FARM 347 

Families:  Pemberton,  Morris. 

OTHER  HOUSES 353 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 355 

INDEX 357 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


Whitby  Hall,  Kingsessing  (North  Front) Frontispiece 

Houses  Typical  of  Old   Philadelphia — Front  and    Lom- 
bard Streets — Fourth  and  Spruce  Streets 14 

Bedchamber  at   Upsala 20 

Stocker  House,  402  South  Front  Street 28 

Bishop  White  House,  400  South  Front  Street 28 

Town  House  of  Nicholas  Waln,  254  South  Second  Street  .  .     28 

Evans  House,  322  DeLancey  Street 46 

Blackwell  House,  224  Pine  Street 46 

PowEL  House,  244  South  Third  Street 52 

Fireplace  and  Over-mantel  in  Bedchamber  of  Powel  House    54 

Wharton  House,  336  Spruce  Street 60 

WisTAR  House,  Southwest  Corner  of  Fourth  and  Prune 

(Locust)  Streets.    Cadwalader  House  to  the  Left.  .     64 

Morris  House,  225  South  Eighth  Street 70 

Randolph  House,  Doorway  of  Number  321  South  Fourth 

Street 80 

House  of  Rev.  William  Smith,  D.D.,  First  Provost  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  Northeast   Corner  of 

Fourth  and  Arch  Streets 80 

The  Woodlands 86 

Bartram  House,  on  the  Schuylkill  in  Kingsessing 94 

Whitby  Hall,  Kingsessing  (Western  End) 98 

Parlour  at  Whitby  Hall 102 

Whitby  Hall  (South  Front) 106 

Stairway  at  Whitby  Hall 106 

Mount  Pleasant,  from  Driveway  approaching  East  Front  114 

Parlour  at  Mount  Pleasant 116 

Mount  Pleasant,  ON  THE  Schuylkill.    The  River  Front  .. .   118 

Great  Chamber  on  Second  Floor  at  Mount  Pleasant.  .  .   120 

7 


ILLl  STUATIONS 


solitldk,  on  thk  schuylkill 126 

Laurel  Hill,  on  the  Schuylkill 126 

woodfohd,  near  the  ridoe  road 134 

Wynnestay,  Lower  Merion 154 

Waynesborough,  Paoli 170 

Parlour  at  Waynesborough 178 

Living  Room  at  Waynesborough 178 

Vaux  Hill — Fatland  Hall 196 

Loudoun,  Germantown 200 

Mill  Grove,  Lower  Providence 200 

Stenton 204 

Parlour  at  Stenton 208 

James  Logan's  Cradle  and  Bed  at  Stenton 208 

The  Hallway  at  Stenton 212 

Grumblethorpe,  5261  Germantown  Road 222 

Vernon,  Vernon  Park,  Germantown 222 

Perot — Morris  House,  5442  Germantown  Road 226 

Johnson  House,  6305  Germantown  Road 238 

Wyck,  Germantown  Road  and  Walnut  Lane 238 

Cliveden,  from  Germantown  Road 242 

Doorway  of  Cliveden 246 

Hallway  at  Cliveden 252 

Cliveden,  Germantowt^ 252 

UrSALA,    (lERMANTOWN   RoAD   AND   UpSAL   StREET 255 

Doorway  at  Upsala 256 

Parix)ur  at  Upsala 256 

Carlton,  Indian  Queen  Lane,  Germantown 260 

Gateway  at  Glen  Fern 266 

Spring  Bank,  Germantown 266 

Glen  Fern,  on  the  Wissahickon  Creek 274 

Hope  Lodge,  Whitemarsh 277 

8 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Hallway  at  Hope  Lodge 278 

The  Highlands,  Whitemarsh 282 

Graeme  Park,  Horsham 298 

Sir  William  Keith's  Lifting  Stone  at  Graeme  Park 300 

Ancient  Fire  Back  at  Graeme  Park 300 

Parlour  at  Graeme  Park 302 

Great  Chamber  on  Second  Floor  at  Graeme  Park 302 

Box  Garden  at  Ury  House,  Fox  Chase 314 

Cedar  Grove,  Harrogate,  Northern  Liberties 318 

Bedchamber  at  Cedar  Grove 322 

Kitchen  at  Cedar  Grove 322 

Chalkley  Hall,  Frankford 326 

Port  Royal  House,  Frankford 338 

Waln  Grove,  Frankford 338 

Andalusia,  on  the  Delaware,  Bensalem  Township,  Bucks.  343 
Pen  Rhyn,  on  the  Delaware,  Bensalem  Township,  Bucks  .  345 


OLD  PHILADELPHIA 


OUSES,  like  men,  have  personality. 
They  have  it,  especially  old  houses, 
to  a  marked  degree,  reflected  to  be 
sure  from  human  association,  but 
running  the  gamut  of  variety  as 
fully  as  their  human  makers  who 
inwove  so  much  of  their  own  indi- 
viduality into  the  fabrics  they  builded  of  stone  and  brick 
and  wood.  So  closely  identified  with  man  and  his  doings 
are  they,  that  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  history 
of  the  houses  of  a  neighbourhood  will  give  more  clearly 
than  any  other  medium  an  insight  into  the  history  of  the 
men  who  lived  there. 

As  houses  are  the  visible  records  and  crystallised  his- 
tory of  a  nation's  social  life,  as  they  reflect  somewhat  of 
the  state  and  substance  of  their  owners,  so  may  we  gain 
more  intimate  knowledge  of  epochs  and  men  from  a  closer 
acquaintance  with  their  abodes,  just  as  a  naturalist  can 
reconstruct  the  tenant  of  a  shell  from  a  study  of  its  form 
and  structure. 

The  story  of  a  single  house  is  ofttimes  the  history  in 
small  of  all  the  country  roundabout.  It  is  only  by  study- 
ing history  in  small  that  we  shall  ever  know  its  full 
meaning.  It  is  only  by  marking  well  the  homely 
things  bound  up  with  the  daily  life  of  the  men  aforetime 
that  we  shall  ever  see  the  great  facts  of  history  in  their 
true  light  and  realise  the  full  extent  of  their  significance 
for  us. 

The  day  is  now  happily  past  when  tales  of  battles  and 
sieges,  the  trumpet-and-drum  episodes  of  the  drama  of 

11 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  PHILADELPHIA 

existence,  are  alone  held  of  sovereign  worth  in  writing  his- 
tory. From  every  side  comes  the  demand  to  know  what 
maimer  of  men  they  were  that  wrought  the  deeds  they 
did,  their  conmion  relations  to  one  another,  how  they  tilled 
the  soil,  how  they  traded,  how  they  ate  and  dressed,  how 
they  worked  and  how  they  played,  how  they  gave  and  re- 
ceived hospitality,  in  short,  how  they  lived;  and  unless 
these  questions  can  be  answered,  history  has  done  less  than 
half  its  duty. 

Any  material  is  to  be  welcomed  that  will  help  us  to 
understand  more  fully  the  social  life  of  a  given  period,  for 
after  all,  that  is  what  counts  most.  All  other  phases  of 
a  nation's  history — political,  economic,  industrial,  or  con- 
stitutional— are  in  a  great  measure  the  outcome,  the  par- 
ticular manifestations  of  it. 

Albeit  the  glamour  shed  by  picturesque  distance 
invests  the  brocades  and  laces  and  towering,  plumed 
turbans  of  the  ladies  and  the  powdered  queues  and 
gold-bedizened  waistcoats  of  the  men  vnth  a  roman- 
tic charm,  we  must,  nevertheless,  realise  that  there 
was,  too,  a  fustian  and  ozenbrig  side  to  the  life  of  former 
times. 

With  all  this  homely  side  of  life  the  story  of  Colonial 
homes  is  so  inseparably  joined  that  it  is  the  fittest  point 
of  contact  we  can  choose  for  cultivating  a  more  sjinpa- 
thetic  and  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  men  and  women 
of  })ygone  generations,  an  acquaintance  surely  not  to  our 
damage  and  mayhap  to  the  great  profit  of  our  manners 
and  morals.  Without  giving  ourselves  over  too  much  to 
retrospection,  we  may  well  enquire  whether  or  not  the 
plan  and  governance  of  our  lives  nowadays  are  wholty  as 

12 


OLD  PHILADELPHIA 


we  would  have  them,  whether  we  have  not  lost  some- 
thing that  our  forefathers  possessed,  and  whether  we 
might  not  to  good  purpose  pattern  our  behaviour,  our 
ideals,  our  standards,  more  after  the  broad,  generous, 
well-rounded  scheme  of  life  and  open  hospitality  of 
the  past. 

At  this  distance  of  time,  at  any  rate,  we  can  get  a 
good  perspective  and  more  truly  appreciate  these  men 
and  women,  long  departed,  with  their  sins  and  follies, 
their  goodness  and  their  truth,  their  deeds  good  and  evil, 
in  short,  all  their  roles  prescribed  in  the  drama  of  life — 
all  things  that  make  for  the  final  crystallisation  of  char- 
acter and  cause  us  now  to  look  back  on  them  with  rever- 
ence or  tender  charity,  loving  and  honouring  them  for  what 
they  did  well,  and  leniently  passing  over  the  ill.  If  truth 
be  stranger  than  fiction,  surely  the  romances,  the  love  af- 
fairs, the  brave  deeds,  the  joys  and  sorrows,  and  all  the 
different  events  in  the  lives  of  these  men  and  women  who 
trod  the  same  streets  we  tread,  who  knew  and  loved  the 
same  familiar  scenes  we  know  and  love,  and  with  whose 
descendants  we  daily  talk,  ought  to  hold  us  enthralled  far 
more  than  the  padded  lay-figures  and  figments  of  mere 
fiction,  however  excellent  it  be,  that  we  eagerly  hearken 
to  with  itching  ears. 

To  the  student  of  the  social  aspect  of  history,  there 
is  no  more  fertile  neighbourhood  than  that  of  Penn's 
"  greene  country  towne  "  where  so  many  early  houses 
remain  to-day  as  enduring  memorials  of  the  most 
elegant  period  in  Colonial  life.  One  is  at  once  embar- 
rassed with  the  wealth  of  material  that  presents  itself 
and  a  selection  is  only  reached  by  the  co-ordination  of 

18 


( OLOMAL  HOMES  OF  PHILADELPHIA 

interesting  and  important  things  in  connexion  with  each 
place. 

No  portion  of  America  is  blessed  with  rarer  natural 
beauty  or  more  agreeable  diversity  of  surface  than  East- 
ern l*ennsylvania,  and  we  owe  to  the  Founder  not  only  this 
fortunate  location  but  the  quality  of  those  who  settled 
upon  it.  "  Thy  God  bringeth  thee  into  a  good  land,"  he 
exclaims,  "  of  brooks  of  water,  of  fountains  and  depths 
that  spring  out  of  valleys  and  hills,  a  land  whose  stones 
are  iron,  and  out  of  whose  hills  thou  mayest  dig  brass." 
How  the  soft  beauty  of  the  Delaware  must  have  appealed 
to  him  as  he  ascended  it!  The  meadows  on  either  side 
were  covered  with  grass  or  reeds  while  strips  of  moderately 
high  land,  upon  which  grew  the  virgin  forest,  came  through 
these  meadows  here  and  there  to  the  water's  edge.  Nu- 
merous large  creeks  stretched  backward  into  the  wild  in- 
terior, tempting  the  explorer  at  every  turn.  The  charm 
of  the  landscape  was  the  deep  rich  green  of  the  grass, 
the  dark  soft  soil,  where  everything  seemed  fat  and  fer- 
tile, and  the  great  quantities  of  game  in  the  air,  on 
the  shore,  and  on  the  surface  of  the  water.  It  hardly 
needed  persecution  at  home  to  attract  settlers  to  such 
a  land  of  promise,  and  to  Penn's  sagacity  in  choosing 
and  encouraging  men  of  solid  worth  and  artisans  of 
skill  as  its  first  people  is  due  the  quick  prosperity  that 
came  to  it. 

These  industrious  people  in  the  wilderness,  three  thou- 
sand miles  from  home  and  help,  had  to  win  the  battle  for 
existence  before  they  could  pay  much  attention  to  the 
arts  that  cultivate  and  refine.  Thus  were  established  the 
shipyards  and  textile  industries  that  endure  to-day  and 

14 


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OLD  PHILADELPHIA 


that  soon  brought  to  Philadelphia  a  commerce  second 
to  none  among  the  seaports  of  the  Colonies.  Trade  with 
the  East  and  West  Indies,  as  well  as  with  Europe,  poured 
gold  into  the  coffers  of  her  merchants  and  brought  af- 
fluence and  culture  at  an  early  stage  of  her  career.  The 
chief  wealth  of  her  most  considerable  citizens  was  almost 
invariably  derived  from  i^rofitable  shipping  ventures.  At 
the  time  of  the  Revolution,  the  city  was  the  greatest  in 
the  country.  "  No  other  could  boast  of  so  many  streets,  so 
many  houses,  so  many  people,  so  much  renown.  No  other 
city  was  so  rich,  so  extravagant,  so  fashionable." 

Among  the  features  that  impressed  visitors  from  dis- 
tant lands  was  the  fineness  of  the  houses.  Sometimes 
parts  of  the  woodwork  and  building  materials  were  fetched 
overseas,  although  the  skill  of  the  resident  artisans  was 
of  no  mean  order,  as  their  handiwork  proves  to-day,  and 
the  master  carpenters  of  the  city  in  1724  composed  a 
guild  large  and  prosperous  enough  to  be  patterned  after 
"  The  Worshipful  Company  of  Carpenters  of  London  " 
founded  in  1477.  James  Portius,  whom  William  Penn 
induced  to  come  to  his  new  city  to  "  design  and  execute 
his  Proprietary  buildings,"  was  among  the  most  active 
of  the  carpenters'  company,  and  at  his  death,  in  1736, 
gave  his  choice  collection  of  architectural  works  to  his 
fellow-members,  thus  laying  the  foundation  of  their  pres- 
ent valuable  library.  In  1745  was  published  a  book  of 
directions  for  joinery,  from  a  perusal  of  which  we  may 
gather  that  both  the  art  of  proportion  and  technical  pro- 
ficiency were  to  be  expected  from  our  local  craftsmen. 
We  have,  too,  abundant  evidence  that  our  native  archi- 
tects— some  of  the  ablest  were  wholly  amateurs — pos- 

15 


(  ()1A)MAL  IIO.MKS  OF  riilLADELPHIA 


sessed  knowledge  and  iihility  by  no  means  contempti- 
ble. To  Doctor  Kearsley  we  owe  Christ  Church  and  to 
Andrew  Hamilton,  the  State  House.  In  fact,  some  archi- 
tectural knowledge  seems  to  have  been  considered  a  nec- 
essary part  of  a  gentleman's  education.  To  these  was 
added  the  influence  of  the  Quakers  for  simplicity,  stability, 
and  usefulness. 

Not  the  least  important  aim  of  this  volume  is  to  direct 
attention  to  the  fact  that  much  of  the  best  Colonial  do- 
mestic architecture  in  America  is  to  be  found  in  this  part 
of  the  countrv  and  that,  furthermore,  the  houses  are  still 

ft  ^ 

in  their  original  state  to  all  intents  and  purposes.  This 
record  is  emphatically  not  a  description  of  buildings  that 
once  were  but  are  now  demolished;  it  is  a  description  of 
buildings  as  they  actually  are  to-day.  Some  publications 
that  have  essayed  to  treat  of  this  subject,  after  chronicling 
the  charms  and  braveries  of  some  fine  old  house,  immedi- 
ately thereafter  tell  of  its  demolition;  others  speak  of  the 
houses  in  much  the  same  terms  we  should  expect  to  find 
on  a  tombstone  or  a  bronze  memorial  tablet;  here  the  en- 
deavour has  been  made  to  clothe  the  houses  and  the  peo- 
ple that  lived  in  them  with  the  warmth  and  colour  they 
really  possessed. 

INIoreover,  a  wealth  of  history,  not  merely  local  but 
national,  is  embodied  in  the  ancient  seats  of  Philadelphia 
and  the  neighbourhood  and  incidents  profoundly  affecting 
the  destiny  of  the  country  have  taken  place  within  or 
near})y  the  houses  described  in  this  volume,  so  that  its 
sphere  of  interest  is  not  bounded  by  local  metes.  The 
figures  i)rominent  in  the  annals  of  Colonial  times  and  the 
fathers  of  the  American  Commonwealth  were  frequent 

10 


OLD  PHILADELPHIA 


actors  on  the  Philadelphia  stage  of  events  and,  in  fact, 
not  a  little  American  history  was  made  in  Philadelphia 
by  Philadelphians.  The  Free  Library  of  James  Logan, 
the  Medical  School  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  Law  School  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  the 
Pennsylvania  Hospital,  the  American  Philosophical 
Society,  the  Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts,  and  Peak's  Mu- 
seum were  successfully  established  in  Philadelphia  before 
there  were  any  similar  attempts  elsewhere.  The  English 
Bible  and  Testament,  Milton,  Shakespeare,  and  Black- 
stone  were  all  reproduced  for  the  first  time  in  America  in 
Philadelphia,  and  it  is  an  interesting  indication  of  the  keen- 
ness of  literary  perception  that  the  earliest  book  written  by 
Thackeray  to  be  given  to  the  world  first  appeared  in  the 
same  city.  The  first  protest  against  slavery  in  this  coun- 
try came  from  Germantown  Friends'  JNIeeting  in  1688, 
and  the  earliest  abolition  society  in  the  world  was  organ- 
ised in  Philadelphia  in  1774.  The  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  were 
written  and  adopted  here,  and  the  discoveries  of  Franklin 
carried  his  name  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  civilised 
world.  Robert  Morris  managed  the  finances  of  the  Revo- 
lution, Stephen  Girard  the  War  of  1812,  and  Jay  Cooke 
the  Civil  War.  The  locality  furnished  a  throng  of  pictu- 
resque characters  of  lesser  note  but  very  human  and  en- 
gaging— Phineas  Pemberton,  Thomas  Chalkley,  Judge 
Moore,  Provost  Smith,  Nicholas  Wain,  Judge  Chew, 
Judge  Peters,  Anthony  Wayne,  Jacob  Hiltzheimer  and 
many  more. 

A  few  years  hence  this  work  could  not  be  produced, 
for  much  of  the  material  contained  herein  has  never  been 

2  17 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  PHILADELPHIA 

coniiiiittcd  to  writing  and  cannot  be  found  anywhere  else. 
It  lias  been  imparted  verbally  by  people  in  advanced 
years — tlie  traditions  and  recollections  of  an  older  genera- 
tion rapidly  passing  away.  You  all  still  know  some  of 
them.  They  speak  of  their  family  and  of  their  cousins 
to  tlie  remotest  generation,  and  quote  their  grandfathers 
as  oracles,  alongside  the  sages  of  Plutarch.  Do  not  smile 
at  them,  but  observe  them  as  they  enter  a  room  or  speak 
to  a  servant.  Do  not  think  their  ideas  of  old-time  cour- 
tesy and  Iiigh-breeding  are  provincial.  It  is  the  fashion 
nowadays  to  proclaim  against  this  aristocracy  of  culture, 
refinement,  and  gentleness.  Have  we  substituted  any- 
tliing  better  for  it,  or  are  we  ruled  more  justly?  We  are 
working  so  hard  at  being  republicans  ^\ith  our  "  ives," 
"  ists,"  and  "  ettes,"  and  we  consider  ourselves  "  as  good 
as  any  and  better  than  most."  Perhaps  in  an  odd  mo- 
ment we  mav  find  time  for  the  bow,  but  we  feel  it  is  at 
most  an  imitation — theirs  was  the  reality. 

Although  Philadelphia  was  the  largest  and  the  most 
imj)ortant  city  in  the  American  Colonies  from  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century  onward,  it  was  a  small  place 
as  we  nowadays  reckon  size,  and  civic  life  had  an  inti- 
mate cliaracter  that  we  ma5%  perhaps,  find  it  hard  to  un- 
derstand. ELverybody  knew  everybody  else  and  every- 
l)0(ly  knew  everybody's  else  business.  According  to 
Doctor  Schoepf,  the  German  traveller  who  made  a  tour 
of  the  States  just  after  the  Revolutionary  War,  the 
built-up  portion  of  the  city  was,  for  the  most  part,  com- 
prebended  between  the  Delaware  River  on  the  east  and 
Seventh  Street  on  the  west,  Christian  Street  on  the  south, 
and  Poplar  on  the  north,  this  including  a  large  portion  of 

18 


OLD  PHILADELPHIA 


the  districts  of  Southwark  and  Northern  Liberties.  Even 
between  these  limits,  there  were  many  unoccupied  lots 
that  were  not  built  upon  until  years  afterward  and  the 
houses  frequently  had  large  gardens  not  only  in  the  rear 
but  at  the  side  as  well. 

Within  this  small  metropolis,  far  smaller  half  a  cen- 
tury before,  there  were  always  two  distinct  types  of  so- 
cial life  to  be  found  side  by  side — the  life  of  the  staid  and 
sober  Quaker  element  and,  diametrically  opposed  to  it, 
the  gay,  we  might  almost  say,  roystering  life  of  the 
"  World's  People."  For  a  refreshing  bit  of  contemporary 
description  we  cannot  do  better  than  quote  the  itinerary 
of  Dr.  Alexander  Hamilton,  penned  in  1744: 

I  was  shaved  by  a  little,  finical,  humpbacked  old  barber,  who 
kept  dancing  around  me  and  talking  all  the  time  of  the  operation, 
and  yet  did  his  job  lightly  and  to  a  hair.  He  abounded  in  com- 
pliments and  was  a  very  civil  fellow  in  his  way.  He  told  me  he 
had  been  a  journeyman  to  the  business  for  forty  odd  years,  not- 
withstanding which  he  knew  how  to  trim  gentlemen  as  well  (thank 
God)  as  the  best  master  and  despaired  not  of  preferment  before 
he  died. 

Hamilton  goes  on  to  say  that  the  shops  were  opened 
at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  that  the  Governour's  Club, 
a  society  of  gentlemen,  met  at  the  tavern  every  night  and 
conversed  upon  various  subjects,  and  that  the  conversa- 
tion on  one  occasion  when  he  was  present  was  upon  the 
English  poets  and  Cervantes.  Imagine  such  a  state  of 
affairs  in  the  clubs  nowadays!  He  complains  that  the 
summer  heat  was  excessive,  but  in  the  next  line  adds  that 
there  was  a  pump  of  excellent  water  every  fifty  paces 

19 


COLONIAL  liOxMES  OF  PHILADELPHIA 

Tliere  were  brick  })avciiieiits,  painted  awnings,  and  many 
of  the  houses  had  balconies,  a  fashion  that  is  returning 
with  modern  Georgian  architecture.  The  one  pubhc  clock 
of  the  city  struck  the  hours  but  was  blessed  with  neither 
index  nor  dial-plate.  His  picture  of  the  tap-room  of  the 
inn  at  which  he  stayed  on  the  evening  of  his  arrival  is 
highly  characteristic. 

A  knot  of  Quakers  there  talked  only  about  the  selling  of  flour 
and  the  low  price  it  bore.  They  touched  a  little  upon  religion, 
and  high  words  arose  among  some  of  the  sectaries,  but  their  blood 
was  not  hot  enough  to  quarrel,  or,  to  speak  in  the  canting  phrase, 
Iheir  zeal  wanted  ferA'ency. 

He  quaintly  observes  that  the  Quakers  were  the  richest 
and  the  people  of  the  greatest  interest  in  the  govern- 
ment and  that  they  chiefly  composed  the  House  of  Assem- 
bly, and  then  he  remarks  that,  "  They  have  the  character  of 
an  obstinate  stiff-necked  generation,  and  a  perpetual 
plague  to  their  governours." 

In  one  respect  Friends  and  "  World's  People  "  w^ere 
precisely  alike.  One  and  all,  they  dearly  loved  eating 
and  drinking,  and  not  infrequently  "  gormandized  to  the 
verge  of  gluttony."  A  glance  at  any  of  the  old  diaries 
proves  this  fully.     Here  is  one  characteristic  entry: 

"  tliis  morning  most  of  the  family  were  busy  pre- 
paring for  a  great  dinner,  two  green  turtles  having  been  sent  to 
Jolmny — We  concluded  to  dress  them  both  together  here  and 
invited  the  whole  family  in.  We  had  three  tureens  of  soup,  the 
two  shells  baked,  besides  several  dishes  of  stew,  with  boned  turkey, 
roast  ducks,  veal  and  beef.     After  these  were  removed  the  table 

20 


3      >     0 


H 
O 

M 
> 

a 

» 
>■ 


> 


OLD  PHILADELPHIA 


was  filled  with  two  kinds  of  jellies  and  various  kinds  of  pudding  , 
pies  and  preserves ;  and  then  almonds,  raisins,  nuts,  apples  and 
oranges.  Twenty-four  sat  down  at  the  table."  The  next  entry 
states  that  "  my  husband  passed  a  restless  night  with  gout." 

Hospitality  of  bed,  board,  and  cup  have  always  been 
prominent  features  of  Philadelphia  life.  This  is  fully 
attested  by  William  Black,  the  secretary  of  the  Virginia 
Commissioners  when  they  visited  Philadelphia  in  1744. 
He  tells  in  his  diary  how  they  were  met  at  the  Schuylkill 
River,  on  the  Sunday  evening  of  their  arrival,  by  a  party 
of  gentlemen  among  whom  were  Richard  Peters,  the  sec- 
retary of  the  Province,  Robert  Strettell,  Andrew  Hamil- 
ton, and  several  other  substantial  citizens,  who  received 
them  "very  kindly  and  welcomed  them  into  their  Province 
with  a  Bowl  of  fine  Lemon  Punch  big  enough  to  have 
Swimmed  half  a  dozen  of  young  Geese."  Passing  on  into 
the  city  they  were  introduced  to  the  Governour  at  the 
State  House  and  "  were  presented  with  a  Glass  of  Wine." 

The  visit  of  the  Virginia  Commissioners  was  the  occa- 
sion of  endless  eating  and  drinking  and  conviviality  all 
round,  both  in  private  houses  and  at  the  inns  where  it 
was  the  custom  of  the  times  to  do  much  of  the  entertain- 
ing. However  strong  heads  might  be,  they  could  not 
always  remain  unaffected  by  the  fluids  imbibed,  and  one 
old  Philadelphia  worthy,  who,  as  was  the  wont,  had  gone 
into  a  friend's  house  shortly  after  a  wedding  to  drink 
punch,  records  that  he  there  met  several  of  his  friends 
and  got  "  decently  drunk."  Now  what  "  decently  drunk  " 
may  mean  it  would  be  hard  to  say.  The  reader  may  de- 
cide for  himself. 

21 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  PHILADELPHIA 


To  return  for  a  moment  to  William  Black,  he  tells  in 
his  diary  how  he  went  one  evening  to  call  on  a  merchant, 
a  townsman  of  his,  whom  he  had  not  seen  for  some  years 
until  that  forenoon. 

I  staid  till  after  11  and  parted,  he  making  me  Promise 
to  be  no  Stranger  while  I  staid  in  Town,  of  which  there  was  no 
great  fear,  as  he  kept  a  Glass  of  Good  Wine,  and  was  as  free  of 
it  as  an  Apple  tree  of  its  Fruit  on  a  Windy  Day  in  the  month  of 
July.  I  grop'd  my  way  to  where  I  Lodged  after  having  Butted 
against  some  Posts  on  the  Sides  of  the  Pavement,  which  kept 
me  in  the  Road ;  about  the  mid-hour  I  got  to  Bed,  where  I  in- 
clined to  K't  myself  rest  until  iNlorning. 

It  is  only  fair,  however,  to  say  that  at  this  time  there 
was  little  or  no  attempt  at  lighting  the  streets  except  on 
one  or  two  of  the  principal  thoroughfares. 

Another  visitor  of  nearly  the  same  period,  one  Alex- 
ander jMackraby,  seems  to  have  experienced  the  same  diffi- 
culty in  trying  to  persuade  his  legs  to  follow  a  straight 
course  in  the  homeward  way  after  an  evening  spent  in 
the  convivial  company  of  the  officers  of  the  Royal  Irish 
Regiment,  then  (1768)  stationed  in  Philadelphia.  Speak- 
ing in  a  letter  of  the  colonel  of  that  body  he  writes: 

there  never  was  such  a  set  of  topers  as  the  officers  of  his  regi- 
ment. The  mess  rooms  at  the  barracks  are  something  like  Circe's 
cave  out  of  which  no  man  ever  returned  upon  two  pegs. 

Fox  hunting,  horseracing,  cock-fighting,  bull-baiting, 
and  sundry  other  sports  of  that  ilk  were  freely  indulged 
in   by  Philadelphians  of  the   eighteenth  century,  while 

22 


OLD  PHILADELPHIA 


their  corporate  social  tastes  were  represented  by  such 
clubs  as  The  Colony  in  Schuylkill,  the  Gloucester  Fox 
Hunting  Club,  in  which  the  First  City  Troop  really 
originated,  and  others  of  similar  nature.  From  1754  on- 
ward, theatrical  entertainments  were  of  occasional  occur- 
rence and,  though  severely  frowned  upon  by  the  stricter 
element,  were  nevertheless  well  patronised.  These  per- 
formances were  given,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  old  theatre 
on  South  Street  above  Fourth,  which  was  the  first  build- 
ing expressly  erected  for  the  purpose,  when  the  old  build- 
ing farther  down  South,  or  Cedar  Street  as  it  was  then 
called,  was  no  longer  sufficient  for  the  purposes  for  which 
it  had  been  altered. 

The  roads  on  the  outskirts  of  all  Colonial  cities  were 
intolerably  bad,  and  on  occasions  of  sudden  rain,  the 
doughty  Washington,  always  fond  of  theatrical  entertain- 
ment, and  many  others  of  Philadelphia's  elite  had  to 
plough  their  way  from  bemired  carriages  through  seas  of 
mud.  Perhaps  the  men  realised  that  there  were  pleasant 
features  even  to  these  disadvantages,  for  many  a  damsel 
found  herself  more  carried  than  supported  during  the 
troublous  approach. 

Cider  frolics,  barbecues,  turtle  dinners,  and  other  gas- 
tronomical  diversions  without  number  enlivened  the  days. 
Another  element  of  social  intercourse  was  the  family  vis- 
iting that  went  on  and  was  particularly  in  vogue  among 
the  Friends  at  the  time  of  Monthly,  Quarterly,  and 
Yearly  Meetings,  when  whole  families  would  pay  visits  of 
several  days'  duration  to  other  families. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  more  intellectual 
side  of  life  was  duly  represented  as  well  as  the  grossly 

23 


COLONIAL  IIOMKS  OF  PHILADELPHIA 


material  clcinents  of  eating,  drinking,  and  frolicking.  An 
incessant  flow  of  wit  and  humour  was  sustained  by  such 
men  as  Judge  Peters  and  Nicholas  Wain,  with  many  more 
whose  names  there  is  not  space  to  mention.  The  eigh- 
teenth century  seems  to  have  been  a  period  especially  rich 
in  humourists  and  wits.  It  was  not  like  the  preceding 
century  when  the  bitter  religious  discussions  that  were 
everpvhere  rife  prompted  the  adherents  of  each  "  ism  " 
to  hurl  full-mouthed  vituperative  epithets  at  their  oppo- 
nents. Polemical  vituperation  ranked  high  in  their  es- 
teem as  an  engine  of  salvation,  and  thundering  anathemas 
with  fluent  abuse  were  often  mistaken  for  wit  and  seemed 
to  usurp  its  place.  Later,  however,  a  broader  tolerance 
induced  men  to  forego  the  exhilaration  of  indulging  in 
religious  Billingsgate,  and  wit  and  humour  flourished 
apace  and  enlivened  the  festive  board  with  scintillating 
flashes. 

The  daily  life  of  the  town  was  focussed  at  the  old 
Provincial  hall  in  the  marketplace  at  Second  and  High 
Streets.  Here  was  the  gaol  and  here  were  those  much 
dreaded  but  eff*ective  instruments  of  correction,  the  pillory, 
stocks  and  whipping  post.  Here  monarchs  on  their  acces- 
sion were  proclaimed,  here  wars  were  declared,  here  from 
the  balcony  new  Governours  addressed  the  people  over 
whom  they  were  appointed  to  rule,  and  here  the  Royal 
Arms  of  England  were  displayed.  Elections  here  took 
place  and  here  the  Provincial  Council  sat.  Back  of  the 
Provincial  hall  the  market-sheds  or  shambles  stretched 
away  westward  occupying  the  whole  middle  of  the  high- 
way. On  Tuesday  and  Friday  evenings  the  citizens  were 
apprised  of  next  day's  market  by  the  pealing  of  Christ 

24 


OLD  PHILADELPHIA 


Church  bells  which  on  these  occasions  were  known  as  the 
"  butter  bells." 

The  markets  and  their  wares  were  justly  famous  and 
were  always  especially  remarked  by  visitors  to  the  city. 
The  ladies  went  to  market  themselves  and  at  such  a  time 
of  day  as  would  shock  their  great  granddaughters.  One 
gay  gallant  from  a  sister  colony,  having  a  curiosity  to 
see  the  markets,  tells  us  that,  early  one  morning,  he 
jumped  from  his  bed  designing  long  before  to  have  been 
at  the  marketplace.     He  got  there  by  seven  and 

liad  no  small  Satisfaction  in  seeing  the  pretty  Creatures,  the 
Young  Ladies  traversing  the  place  from  Stall  to  Stall,  where  they 
could  make  the  best  Market,  some  with  their  maid  behind  them 
with  a  Basket  to  carry  home  the  Purchases.  Others  that  were 
designed  to  buy  but  trifles,  as  a  little  fresh  Butter,  a  Dish  of 
Green  Peas  or  the  like,  had  Good  Nature  and  Humihty  enough 
to  be  their  own  porters. 

As  to  the  servants  just  mentioned,  they  were  not  sel- 
dom the  cause  of  trouble.  While  many  were  faithful  and 
efficient,  there  were  enough  that  sadly  tried  their  masters 
and  mistresses.  In  1769,  one  newly  arrived  Englishman 
writing  home  says: 

You  can  have  no  idea  of  the  plague  we  have  with  servants  on 
this  side  of  the  water.  If  you  bring  over  a  good  one  he  is 
spoilt  in  a  month.  Those  bom  in  the  country  are  insolent  and 
extravagant.  The  imported  Dutch  are  to  the  last  degree  ig- 
norant and  awkward.  The  negroes  are  stupid  and  sulky  and 
stink  damnably.  We  have  tried  them  all  round,  and  this  is  the 
sum  total  of  my  observations :  the  devil  take  the  hindmost ! 

25 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  PHILADELPHIA 


Xotwithstaiiding  vexatious  domestics  and  sundry  an- 
noyances from  the  baser  sort,  that  had  to  be  remedied  by 
recourse  to  stocks  and  pillory,  existence  in  the  city  was 
both  comfortable  and  pleasant.  Life,  even  among  the 
strictest  of  Friends,  was  not  as  rigid  and  hard  as  some 
would  have  us  suppose. 

\\'iiat  with  the  fortnightly  assembly  dances,  dinners, 
fox-hunting,  punch  drinking,  tea-parties,  horseracing,  oc- 
casional theatrical  entertainments  and  sundry  other  amuse- 
ments, life  in  eighteenth  century  Philadelphia  did  not 
wear  an  aspect  of  altogether  drab-coloured  monotony. 


BISHOP  WHITE  HOUSE 

402  SOUTH  FRONT  STREET 


ISHOP  WHITE  spent  all  his  early 
married  life  in  the  house  at  402 
South  Front  Street,  now  used  by 
St.  Peter's  Parish  for  mission  work. 
In  fact,  he  lived  there  until  he 
was  elevated  to  the  Episcopate,  when 
he  built  himself  a  larger  house  in 
Walnut  Street  above  Third,  on  the  site  now  occupied 
by  number  309.  Having  an  independent  income  suffi- 
cient to  maintain  an  elegant  style  of  living,  he  had  also 
a  country-seat  called  Brookland,  a  farm  of  forty-eight 
acres,  near  Philadelphia  on  Islington  Lane,  a  beautiful 
plantation  and,  in  summer,  the  scene  of  such  "  hospitality 
as  became  a  bishop  and  gentleman." 

During  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the 
first  part  of  the  nineteenth,  probably  no  man  in  Phila- 
delphia was  more  revered  and  trusted  than  Bishop  White, 
not  only  by  the  religious  body  of  which  he  was  the  head 
but  by  all  the  citizens  in  general.  He  was  regarded  with 
a  warmth  of  affection  that  led  everyone,  irrespective  of 
religious  affiliation,  to  speak  of  him  as  "  our  bishop." 
By  his  great  good  sense,  moderation,  and  tact  he  tided 
over  many  awkward  places  in  the  affairs  of  the  infant 
nation.  The  house  on  Front  Street  just  below  Pine  is 
so  changed  now  that  the  good  Bishop,  could  he  come  back 
and  see  it,  would  scarcely  be  able  to  recognise  it  as  his 
former  place  of  abode.  The  old  shell,  however,  remains 
and  is  in  staunch  condition. 

To  write  of  Bishop  White  and  not  speak  somewhat 

27 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  PHILADELPHIA 

of  Christ  Churcli  would  be  impossible.  As  a  child  he 
worshipped  there,  through  prime  of  manhood  and  vener- 
able old  age  he  gave  his  constant  ministrations  to  its  con- 
gregation. From  the  earliest  times  its  people,  the  Church 
Party  as  they  were  called  to  distinguish  them  politically 
and  religiously  from  the  Friends,  were,  for  the  most  part, 
the  gayest  and  most  aristocratic  in  the  Province.  As  a 
body  they  were  certainly  the  best  dressed  and  most  strik- 
ing in  appearance,  according  to  one  diarist  of  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  a  stranger  who  had  travelled 
much  in  the  Colonies  and  was  competent  to  judge.  He 
says  that  when  he  attended  Christ  Church  on  Sunday 
morning  he  saw  a  larger  number  of  well-dressed  people 
than  he  had  ever  seen  together  before.     Certain  it 


&' 


IS 


that  there  was  a  marked  distinctive  difference  in  the 
apparel  of  the  different  religious  bodies  at  the  time. 
*'  The  Episcopalians  showed  most  grandeur  of  dress  and 
costume — next  the  Presbyterians — the  gentlemen  of 
whom  freely  indulged  in  powdered  and  frizzled  hair."  An 
entry  in  the  minutes  of  the  vestry  in  1701  makes  us  doubt 
whether  the  church  was  always  kept  properly  cleaned  so 
as  not  to  soil  the  brave  attire  of  both  belles  and  beaux. 
The  sexton  having  applied  for  an  increase  of  salary,  it 
was  agreed  to  give  him  £20  a  year  on  condition  that  he 
was  "  to  wash  the  church  twice  a  year,  and  sand  it  at 
Easter  and  September;  and  also  sweep  the  church  once 
every  two  weeks." 

The  music,  as  everywhere  else  in  the  Colonial  period, 
was  wretchedly  poor.  "  The  singer,  then  called  the 
clerk,  was  Joseph  Fry — a  small  man  with  a  great  voice, 
who,  standing  in  the  organ  gallery,  was  wont  to  make 

28 


'        >      ,        '      'j 


)   •     > 

5     i    >     " 


a: 

a 

c 
—     y 


c 

a: 


o 


X 

5 


c 


-i 


«  •  *     « 


BISHOP  WHITE  HOUSE 


the  whole  church  resound  with  liis  strong,  deep  and  grave 
tones."  After  the  Revolution,  when  there  was  a  ripple 
of  improvement  in  the  general  musical  situation  in  the 
new-born  Republic,  the  efforts  of  church  musicians  to  raise 
the  standard  were  apparently  not  looked  upon  with  fa- 
vour. Joseph  Fry,  or  his  successors,  did  not  "  make  a 
cheerful  noise  before  the  Lord  "  to  the  taste  of  the  con- 
gregation, for  in  1785  the  vestry  passed  a  resolution  "  that 
the  clerks  be  desired  to  sing  such  tunes  only  as  are  plain 
and  familiar  to  the  congregation;  the  singing  of  other 
tunes,  and  frequent  changing  of  tunes,  being  to  the  cer- 
tain knowledge  of  this  vestry,  generally  disagreeable  and 
inconvenient." 

Music  of  another  kind,  the  music  of  the  bells,  seems 
to  have  been  more  to  the  popular  liking.  The  bells  were 
always  being  pealed,  so  that  the  German  traveller.  Doctor 
Schoepf,  said  that  you  would  think  you  were  in  a  papal 
or  imperial  city — there  was  always  something  to  be  rung. 
From  the  time  that  the  "  ring  of  bells  " — the  first  in  the 
Colonies — was  first  hung,  their  metal  throats  were  busy 
proclaiming  all  sorts  of  things  from  the  anniversaries  of 
King  Charles's  Restoration,  Guy  Fawkes's  Day,  and  the 
King's  birthday,  down  to  bi-weekly  markets  or  the  arrival 
in  the  Delaware  of  the  Myrtilla,  Captain  Budden's  ship, 
in  which  the  peal  had  been  brought  out  from  London. 

While  Philadelphia  was  the  seat  of  the  Republican 
Court,  the  grandeur  of  Christ  Church  congregation  was 
increased.  The  arrival  of  the  worshippers  in  damasks 
and  brocades,  velvet  breeches  and  silk  stockings,  powdered 
hair  and  periwigs,  was  a  sight  to  see.  Some  came  afoot, 
others  drove  in  chairs  or  clattered  up  in  cumbrous,  awe- 

29 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  PHILADELPHL\ 

some  coaches,  witli  two  or  four  horses,  while  Washington's 
eqiiipa«i,c,  drawn  by  six  cream-coloured  steeds,  added  the 
final  touch  to  the  imposing  spectacle. 

13 ut  apart  from  all  this  state  and  pomp,  there  was  the 
humbler  side  of  church  life.  There  were  the  Sunday  af- 
ternoon catechisings  when  the  good  Bishop  heard  the 
children  of  the  congregation  and  their  "  servants  and  ap- 
prentices "  repeat  their  "  duty  towards  God  "  and  their 
"  duty  towards  their  neighbour,"  and  expounded  to  them 
such  things  as  a  Christian  ought  to  know  and  believe  to 
his  soul's  health.  Not  long  ago  there  were  gentlemen 
still  living  who  remembered  that,  as  children,  they  had  to 
stand  in  the  aisle  at  St.  Peter's  and  repeat  their  catechism 
to  the  venerable  white-haired  bishop. 

The  public  career  of  Bishop  White  is  so  well  known 
that  it  would  be  carrying  coals  to  Xewxastle  to  dwell  on 
the  subject.  His  private  life,  how^ever,  is  not  so  familiar 
to  most  and  it  forms  a  valuable  commentary  on  the  ways 
of  the  time  in  w^iich  he  lived.  As  might  be  expected,  the 
Bishop  took  a  lively  interest  in  everything  concerning 
civic  life.  One  instance  of  this  was  his  active  membership 
in  the  Hand-in-Hand  Fire  Company,  one  of  those  useful 
volunteer  organisations  that  did  such  yeoman  service  in 
the  preservation  of  property  before  the  formation  of  a 
regular  fire  department. 

On  occasion  of  fire,  the  members,  who  were  pledged 
to  the  common  service  and  served  without  reward,  rushed 
to  the  scene  of  conflagration,  dragging  the  engine  and 
hose-cart  by  ropes.  The  engine  was  pumped  by  hand. 
Those  who  were  not  pum])ing  or  playing  the  hose  busied 
themselves  carrying  the  leathern  buckets,  six  of  which 

80 


BISHOP  WHITE  HOUSE 


each  member  bound  himself  to  keep  in  his  house.  These 
old  buckets  and  the  fire-hats  belonging  to  the  members  of 
the  several  companies  are  now  held  in  high  esteem  as 
honoured  relics  in  the  families  of  their  descendants.  Among 
Bishop  White's  fellow-members  in  the  Hand-in-Hand 
Fire  Company,  at  one  time  or  another,  were  Andrew 
Hamilton,  Provost  Smith,  Francis  Hopkinson,  Benjamin 
Chew,  the  Reverend  Richard  Peters,  the  uncle  of  Judge 
Peters,  Jared  Ingersoll,  John  Cadwalader,  and  Samuel 
Powel.  The  rolls  of  other  fire  companies  bore  names 
quite  as  distinguished.  Hand  engines  and  hose-carts  were 
kept  at  various  convenient  places.  For  a  time  some  of 
the  apparatus  was  housed  in  the  lower  part  of  the  old 
market-house  at  Second  and  Pine  Streets. 

A  glimpse  of  a  still  more  intimate  phase  of  the  Bishop's 
character  we  get  from  an  interesting  account  of  his  earlier 
life,  long  before  he  appeared  in  any  public  capacity,  left 
by  a  lady  slightly  the  prelate's  senior,  who  had  been  his 
constant  playmate  from  early  childhood. 

She  says: 

Billy  White  was  born  a  bishop.  I  never  could  persuade  him 
to  play  anything  but  church.  He  would  tie  his  own  or  my  apron 
around  his  neck  for  a  gown  and  stand  before  a  low  chair  which 
he  called  his  pulpit;  I,  seated  before  him  on  a  little  bench,  was 
the  congregation,  and  he  always  preached  to  me  about  being  good. 
One  day  I  heard  him  crying  and  saw  the  nurse  running  into  the 
street,  calling  him  to  come  back  and  be  dressed.  He  refused,  say- 
ing "  I  do  not  want  to  go  to  dancing-school,  and  I  won't  be  dressed, 
for  I  don't  think  it  is  ^ood  to  learn  to  dance."  And  that  was 
the  only  time  I  ever  knew  Billy  White  to  be  a  naughty  boy. 

31 


COJ.OMAL  HOMES  OF  PHILADELPHIA 


In  his  more  mature  life,  though  he  never  danced  him- 
self, he  was  not  opposed  to  any  one  else  doing  so.  In 
fact,  lie  was  most  tolerant  and  liberal  in  his  views  and  if 
he  had  been  less  broad-minded  he  could  never  have  >vielded 
the  Immense  influence  he  exercised  till  the  day  of  his  death. 

The  Bishop  was  a  hearty  eater  and  fond  of  good  things. 
It  is  said  he  was  devoted  to  mince  pies  and  used  to  but- 
ter them.  He  treated  bread  as  if  it  were  meant  only  to 
be  an  excuse  for  butter.  His  love  for  good  food  was  one 
of  the  secrets  of  his  long  life — he  lived  to  be  eighty-nine — 
and  he  had  but  one  intemperate  habit,  his  propensity  for 
green  tea,  which  he  liked  and  insisted  on  having  brewed 
as  black  as  lye.  He  was  most  hospitable  and  there  was 
scarcely  a  meal  at  which  he  did  not  have  a  guest.  He 
dined  at  two  o'clock,  at  which  meal  he  always  had  two 
glasses  of  wine.  Beyond  this  limit  he  never  went. 
Every  night  before  going  to  bed  he  used  to  smoke  a  soli- 
tary cigar,  drink  one  glass  of  sherry,  and  eat  two  roasted 
apples.     One  of  his  family  has  written  that 

he  delighted  in  the  evenings  to  have  his  grandchildren  rub  his 
hair  behind  his  ears,  which  he  called  "  teasling,"  and  to  rub  his 
silk  stockings  before  a  hot  open  fire.  He  never  wore  a  wig,  as 
the  fashion  was,  but  powdered  his  hair. 

All  these  homely  details  about  an  episcopal  dignitary 
may  seem  trifling,  but  the  little  domestic  sidehghts  and 
peeps  at  his  personal  habits  go  a  long  distance  in  helping 
to  round  out  a  full  and  true  picture  of  a  devoted  father, 
a  faithful  pastor,  and  a  most  dignified  and  courtly  gen- 
tleman.    Bishop  White  died  in  1836. 


STOCKER  HOUSE 


404  SOUTH  FRONT  STREET 


>TRANGE  as  it  may  now  seem  to 
us,  time  was  when  South  Front 
Street  was  a  favourite  place  of  resi- 
dence for  the  wealthy  and  fashion- 
able. A  little  examination  of  the 
remnants  of  old  houses  in  this  now 
unsavoury  quarter  is  sufficient  to 
carry  conviction  on  that  score.  Many  of  these  palatial 
dwellings  belonged  to  wealthy  merchants  and  importers 
who  elected  to  live  near  their  counting-houses  and  wharves. 
John  Stocker,  whose  house  is  well  preserved  and  quite 
representative  of  the  residences  of  the  neighbourhood, 
was  an  affluent  merchant  of  the  eighteenth  century.  He 
was  at  one  time  an  alderman  of  the  city  and  among  his 
other  activities  and  interests  he  was  concerned  with  the 
institution  of  the  IMutual  Assurance  Company,  whose  his- 
tory is  itself  of  unusual  interest. 

It  was  the  first  insurance  corporation  to  be  created  in 
free  and  independent  America  after  the  severance  from 
England,  and  is  the  second-oldest  fire-insurance  company 
in  Philadelphia,  the  first  being  the  Philadelphia  Contribu- 
tionship  for  the  insurance  of  Houses  from  Loss  by  Fire, 
or,  as  it  is  generally  called,  the  Contributionship,  which 
was  founded  in  1752.  The  circumstances  connected  with 
the  origin  of  the  Mutual  Assurance  Company  throw  light 
on  an  amusing  phase  of  Philadelphia  life. 

Fires  in  Colonial  Philadelphia  were  the  cause  of  much 
excitement  and  the  sight  of  a  blazing  chimney  was  enough 
to  throw  the  whole  community  into  an  uproar.     Blazing 

8  33 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  PHILADELPHLV 


chimneys  were  the  subject  of  legislation  by  the  Provincial 
Assembly  of  1775,  which  enacted  that 

Every  person  whose  Chimney  shall  take  Fire  and  blaze  out 
at  the  top,  not  having  been  swept  within  one  Calendar  IVIbnth, 
shall  forfeit  and  pay  the  sum  of  Twenty  Shillings ;  but  if  swept 
within  that  Time  and  taking  Fire  and  blazing  out  at  the  Top, 
the  Person  ^vho  swept  the  same,  eitlier  by  himself,  his  Servants  or 
Negroes,  shall  forfeit  and  pay  Twenty  Shillings. 

With  the  ever-present  danger  of  blazing  chimneys,  a 
number  of  people  conceived  that  there  was  a  grave  jeop- 
ardy in  the  overhanging  branches  of  shade  trees  that 
might  catch  fire  from  a  blazing  chimney  and  spread  it 
farther  in  winter,  and  in  both  summer  and  ^vin- 
ter  must  interfere  Avith  the  application  of  water  in  fire 
extinguishment. 

The  apprehensive  directors  of  the  Contributionship 
called  a  general  meeting  of  the  subscribers  of  that  organi- 
sation in  April,  1781,  to  consider  the  propriety  of  "  En- 
suring or  Re-insuring  Houses  having  Trees  planted  be- 
fore them  in  the  Street."  The  owners  of  shade  trees  be- 
ing in  a  minority  at  this  meeting,  it  was  resolved  that 
"  no  Houses  having  a  Tree  or  Trees  planted  before  them 
shall  be  Insured  or  Re-insured,"  and  "  that  if  any  Per- 
son in  future  having  a  House  Insured  shall  plant  a  Tree 
or  Trees  before  it  in  the  Street,  if  not  removed  in  three 
IMonths  from  the  time  of  planting  he  shall  forfeit  the 
benefit  of  Insurance."  Legislation  w'as  then  invoked 
against  the  objectionable  shade  trees  and  passed  by  the 
General  Assembly  in  1782  only  to  be  repealed  a  few 
months  later  upon  the  urgent  solicitation  of  tree  lovers. 

84 


STOCKER  HOUSE 


Despite  the  sense  of  the  Contributionship  meeting  in 
1781,  no  definite  action  was  taken  till  April,  1784,  when 
it  was  finally  determined  to  put  the  resolution  into  effect. 
Thereupon  the  owners  of  the  debarred  properties  set  about 
organising  for  insurance  and  advertised  a  "  New  Society 
for  Insuring  Houses  from  Loss  by  Fire."  They  stated 
that  a  great  number  of  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia  found 
it  "  agreeable  and  convenient  to  them "  to  have  trees 
planted  in  the  street  before  their  houses,  a  thing  prohibited 
by  the  Contributionship  on  pain  of  forfeiting  insurance, 
and  that  they,  therefore,  would  organise  a  company  to  in- 
sure such  tree-adorned  houses  at  a  slight  additional  pre- 
mium. Under  the  new  conditions,  trees  might  be  planted 
before  the  houses  or  in  the  yards  belonging  to  them. 

By  a  curious  regulation,  it  was  also  provided  that  "  All 
T^ees  planted  near  Houses  shall  be  Trimmed  every  Fall, 
in  such  manner  as  not  to  be  higher  than  the  Eaves  of  the 
Houses.  And  Trees  planted  after  Insurance  must  be  re- 
ported to  the  Office."  The  deed  of  settlement  of  the  new 
company  was  dated  October  21,  1784.  The  badge  or 
house-mark  adopted  was  a  leaden  tree  on  a  shield-shaped 
board  in  allusion  to  the  origin  of  the  organisation,  while 
that  of  the  Contributionship  was  four  interclasped  hands. 
Many  of  these  old  house-marks  are  still  to  be  seen  on  the 
fronts  of  buildings  in  the  older  portions  of  the  city. 


WALN  HOUSE 

2o4  SOUTH  SECOND  STREET 
NICHOLAS  WALN 


T  254  South  Second  Street,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  way  between  Dock 
and  Spruce,  is  a  spacious  old  house 
that  stands  considerably  farther  back 
than  the  neighbouring  buildings, 
leaving  an  ample  yard  in  front. 
This  yard  is  piled  high  with  hard- 


woods and  cabinet-makers'  lumber  of  various  descrip- 
tion and  the  lower  part  of  the  building  does  duty  as  an 
office  for  the  lumber  yard.  The  structure  is  in  every  re- 
spect substantial  and  striking,  but  in  no  way  ostentatious. 
A  broad  flight  of  steps  leads  up  to  a  wide  doorway  that 
opens  into  a  still  wider  hall.  The  rooms  of  this  house 
are  proportionately  lofty  and  spacious  and  its  whole  mien, 
despite  its  present  sordid  and  dingy  environment,  pro- 
claims that  it  was  once  the  home  of  some  notable  person. 
The  notable  person  that  lived  there  was  none  other 
than  Nicholas  Wain,  the  law7er  Nicholas,  for  there  were 
several  other  Nicholases  in  the  same  family,  one  of  the 
wittiest  and  keenest  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  able  men 
in  the  Philadelphia  of  his  day.  The  witticisms  of  Judge 
Peters,  the  master  of  Belmont,  were  not  more  delight- 
fully trenchant  than  the  speeches  that  were  always  burst- 
ing from  the  irrepressible  Nicholas.  In  men  of  such  tem- 
perament as  Wain  and  Peters,  men  who  saw  the  humour 
of  every  situation,  the  flow  of  hon  mots  could  not  be 
checked,  and  their  sayings  and  doings  contributed  not  a 
little  to  the  store  of  anecdotal  wit. 

86 


WALN  HOUSE 


Nicholas  Wain  was  born  in  1742.  Although  not  in 
any  way  directly  identified  with  the  public  or  official  life 
of  the  community  he  was  a  striking  and  well-known  char- 
acter. After  completing  the  curriculum  at  the  William 
Penn  Charter  School  he  began  to  study  the  law  and  pur- 
sued his  labours  with  such  diligence  that  he  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  before  he  attained  his  majority.  He  went  to 
England  in  1763  and  renewed  his  studies  at  the  Temple, 
but  after  spending  a  little  more  than  a  year  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  he  came  back  to  Philadelphia  and 
entered  into  active  practice  both  here  and  in  Bucks.  His 
brilliant  intellect  and  legal  acumen  soon  won  him  distinc- 
tion as  a  barrister  in  Pennsylvania  and  his  practice  grew 
to  be  handsomely  lucrative. 

After  practising  less  than  ten  years,  however,  when 
he  was  in  the  heyday  of  his  professional  career,  he  sud- 
denly gave  up  his  practice  and  became  a  deeply  concerned 
member  of  the  Society  of.  Friends,  devoting  himself  al- 
most wholly  to  preaching  and  performing  other  ministra- 
tions in  behalf  of  Quaker  interests.  A  Philadelphia 
woman  of  the  period  writing  to  a  member  of  her  family 
in  England  and  commenting  on  Nicholas  Wain's  sudden 
abandonment  of  his  valuable  practice  says,  "  He  has  re- 
signed on  principle  as  he  says  no  good  man  can  practice 
law."  It  is  related  of  him  that  one  day  as  he  was  on  his 
way  to  Newtown,  where  the  county  courts  of  Bucks  were 
then  held,  he  stopped  to  see  a  friend  who  lived  near  the 
Pennypack  and  remarked  to  him  while  there  that  he  "  was 
engaged  in  an  important  case  that  was  to  come  before  the 
court  relative  to  property."  On  his  way  back  to  the  city 
he  stopped  again  to  see  the  same  friend  and  appeared 

87 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  PHILADELPHIA 


dec'j)ly  dejected.  On  being  asked  the  cause  of  his  depres- 
sion he  answered,  ''  I  did  the  best  I  could  for  my  client, 
gained  the  cause  for  him,  and  thereby  defrauded  an  hon- 
est man  out  of  his  just  due." 

This  was  in  1772,  and  following  closely  upon  this  epi- 
sode he  appeared  one  day  in  meeting  and  testified  to  his 
change  of  heart.  He  had  hitherto  been  a  man  of  the 
world  and,  though  nominally  a  Quaker,  he  had  not  been 
in  the  habit  of  attending  Friends'  Meeting.  On  this 
memorable  occasion,  he  walked  into  the  preacher's  gallery, 
knelt,  and  poured  out  a  fervent  prayer  and  confession, 
renouncing  the  worldliness  of  his  former  life,  and  pro- 
fessing his  will  to  live  thereafter  more  consistently  with 
the  promptings  of  his  conscience.  This  he  did  and  prac- 
tised benevolence  and  good  deeds  instead  of  ingeniously 
contorting  the  intricacies  of  the  law. 

But  however  much  Nicholas  Wain  might  renounce 
his  worldly  w^ays,  however  much  he  might  give  up  his 
former  gay  clothing  and  the  yellow  chariot  in  wliich  he 
used  to  drive  abroad  in  style,  however  plainly  he  might 
dress  and  forswear  even  coat  collars,  nothing  could  quench 
his  sense  of  humour  or  keep  his  tongue  quiet  when  some- 
thing witty  popped  into  his  head.  Once,  when  chidden 
by  some  of  his  oppressively  dignified  and  duller  friends 
for  some  of  his  rallies,  he  told  them  that  if  they  only  knew 
liow  much  of  liis  mirth  he  did  suppress  they  would  not 
think  so  ill  of  him. 

Shortly  after  his  conversion,  as  he  was  w^alking  along 
the  street  one  day  in  the  plainest  of  garb,  he  met  a  young 
dandy  of  the  towin  offensively  fripped  out  in  the  ex- 
tremest  of  the  extreme  fashions  of  the  period.     He  had 

38 


WALN  HOUSE 


on  a  well-fitted  topcoat  surmounted  at  the  shoulders  by 
a  collection  of  little  capes  each  a  bit  smaller  than  the  one 
beneath.  Walking  up  to  the  festive  youth,  Nicholas  took 
hold  of  the  lowest  cape  and  said,  "  Friend,  what  is  this?  " 
The  would-be  Beau  Brummel,  wishing  to  be  facetious, 
replied,  "  That  is  Cape  Henlopen."  Touching  the  cape 
next  above,  Nicholas  enquired,  "And  what  is  this?" 
"  That,"  said  the  young  popinjay,  "  is  Cape  Hatteras." 
"  Then,"  said  Nicholas,  touching  the  jack-a-dandy's  head 
with  his  finger,  "  this  must  be  the  lighthouse!  " 

On  another  occasion,  as  Nicholas  was  going  along 
the  street,  he  noticed  a  house  where  a  pane  of  glass  had 
been  broken  in  the  parlour  window  and  a  sheet  of  paper 
pasted  over  the  aperture  till  new  glass  was  set  in.  See- 
ing the  mistress  of  the  house  at  her  knitting  in  the  back 
part  of  the  room,  Nicholas  jammed  his  walking-stick 
through  the  paper  and,  putting  his  mouth  to  the  hole  he 
had  made,  called  in,  "  Sham  pane  and  no  glass ! " 

It  was  while  living  in  the  South  Second  Street  house 
that  Nicholas  was  much  annoyed  by  repeated  depreda- 
tions on  his  woodpile.  He  not  only  suspected  his  next- 
door  neighbour  of  purloining  the  wood,  but  assured  him- 
self of  the  circumstance  before  acting.  He  then  bought 
a  cartload  of  wood  and  sent  it  to  the  offending  neighbour 
with  his  compliments.  The  man  was  naturally  enraged 
as  he  had  no  notion  that  he  was  even  suspected.  He 
went  to  Nicholas  in  a  temper  and  demanded  to  know  what 
such  a  thing  meant.  "  Friend,"  said  Nicholas,  "  I  was 
afraid  thee  would  hurt  thyself  falling  off  my  wood  pile." 

He  was  clerk  of  the  Philadelphia  Yearly  Meeting, 
but,  notwithstanding  his  exalted  position  among  Friends, 

39 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  PlllLADELPHLV 

he  was  always  keeping  them  on  tenterhooks  of  suspense 
by  his  sallies,  and  on  one  occasion  he  so  shocked  them  by 
one  of  his  uncontrollable  bursts  that  a  deputation  of 
"  weighty  Friends  "  was  sent  to  labour  with  him. 

Nicholas  was  nervous  and  fidgety  and  could  not  stand 
the  extreme  deliberation  that  some  people  affected  in 
speaking.  Once  a  visiting  Friend  was  moved  to  speak 
in  meeting  and  rising  to  his  feet  looked  about  him,  cleared 

his  throat  loudly,  and  began,  "  I  feel "'    Then  followed 

a  long  pause,  more  throat  clearing,  and,  after  another 
survey  of  the  assembly,  the  speaker  solemnly  repeated, 

"  I  feel "     Again  pausing  and  casting  his  eye  over 

his  hearers,  he  reiterated  for  the  third  time,  "  I  feel " 

This  was  too  much  for  Nicholas's  impatient  spirit;  he  felt 
that  something  must  be  supplied  to  feel.  In  a  tone 
louder  than  a  stage  whisper  he  burst  out,  "A  louse!" 
The  effect  on  the  meeting  can  be  better  imagined  than  de- 
scribed. Nicholas  knew  that  he  was  to  be  waited  on 
because  of  this  indiscretion  and  he  likewise  knew  when 
he  was  to  expect  the  visit  of  the  elders.  On  the  evening 
when  the  Friends  went  to  his  house,  the  windows  were  all 
dark  and  no  answ^er  was  returned  to  their  oft-repeated 
rappings.  Finally  concluding  that  Nicholas  must  be 
away,  they  were  turning  from  the  door  when  a  window 
on  the  second  floor  went  up  and  Nicholas's  head,  arrayed 
in  a  nightcap,  came  out.  "  Friends,"  said  he,  "  you  needn't 
come  in.  The  Lord's  been  here  before  you!"  A  print 
representing  this  incident  is  still  in  existence. 

Nicholas  Wain's  wife  was  Sarah  ^Morris  Richardson, 
the  daughter  of  Joseph  Richardson,  a  man  of  large  for- 
tune.   It  is  said  that  she  was  an  exceedingly  small  woman, 

40 


WALN  HOUSE 


and  family  tradition  has  it  that  her  father  weighed  her 
in  a  pair  of  scales  against  a  bag  full  of  gold  coin  that  was 
to  be  her  wedding  portion  so  that  she  was  literally  "  worth 
her  weight  in  gold."  Nicholas  died  in  1813  universally 
love  and  respected.  It  is  said  that  even  on  his  deathbed 
he  could  not  refrain  from  joking.  Almost  with  his  last 
hard-drawn  breath  he  said,  looking  up,  "  I  can't  die  for 
the  life  of  me." 


BLACKWELL  HOUSE 

Hi  PINE  STREET 

STAMPER-BINGIIAM— BLACKWELL-WILLING 


HE  front  of  224  Pine  Street  arrests 
attention  and  compels  the  admira- 
tion of  the  passerb}^  if  he  has  any 
eye  for  the  beauties  of  our  old 
Colonial  architecture.  Notwith- 
standing its  mutilated  and  dingy 
condition — it  now  serves  for  a  tene- 
ment house  for  immigrants  and  some  of  the  front  cham- 
bers are  rented  to  socialist  clubs;  squalour  unspeakable 
prevails — there  is  beauty  enough  left  to  demand  more 
than  a  passing  glance. 

Built  of  the  red  and  black  bricks  so  characteristic 
of  Philadelphia,  the  wall  is  pierced  with  broad  windows 
filled  with  small  square  panes  set  in  very  wide  sash-bars. 
Pilasters  and  pediment  adorn  the  door  and  the  cornice 
and  ornamentation  beneath  the  eaves  surpass  in  richness 
of  design  and  nicety  of  finish  anj-thing  of  the  sort  in  the 
city.  Until  a  few  years  ago,  when  the  interior  was  de- 
spoiled of  its  wonderful  woodwork,  nothing  could  have 
been  more  exquisite  than  the  carving  and  panelling  there 
to  })e  found.  From  the  ground  to  the  top  floor,  hall  and 
staircase  were  wainscotted  with  mahogany  and  there  were 
mahogany  doors.  The  doorways  from  the  hall  to  the 
drawing-rooms  were  enriched  with  fluted  pilasters  and 
deeply  mouhlcd  and  carved  broken  pediments.  Immed- 
iately above  the  fireplaces  were  narrow  panels  on  which 
hunting  scenes  were  wrought  in  mastic.     The  wall  above 

42 


BLACKWELL  HOUSE 


was  panelled  to  the  ceiling  as  was  also  the  space  on  either 
side  of  the  fireplace. 

It  was,  past  all  question,  one  of  the  most  elegant  of 
the  many  elegant  houses  in  Philadelphia.  Here  there  was 
no  reason  for  Quaker  restraint  or  love  of  plainness  that 
checked  elaboration  in  such  a  number  of  instances.  It 
was  built  for  people  whose  every  inclination  was  toward 
luxury  of  style  in  living  and  adornment  in  the  objects 
about  them  and,  as  they  had  abundant  means  to  gratify 
their  tastes,  nothing  was  stinted  that  might  add  comfort 
or  elegance. 

Here  lived  John  Stamper,  a  wealthy  English  mer- 
chant who  had  been  a  councilman,  alderman,  and  finally, 
mayor  of  the  city  in  1759,  and  had  bought  from  Thomas 
and  Richard  Penn,  in  1761,  the  whole  south  side  of  Pine 
Street  from  Second  to  Third  and,  at  some  time  prior  to 
the  Revolution — probably  about  1764  or  1765 — built  him- 
self this  house.  It  was  surrounded  by  a  fair  garden  filled 
with  the  choicest  flowers,  shrubbery,  and  fruit  trees.  At 
a  later  date,  when  Doctor  Blackwell,  into  whose  posses- 
sion the  property  passed,  built  the  house  at  238  for  his 
daughter  on  the  occasion  of  her  marriage  to  George  Wil- 
ling, the  garden  extended  that  far  west  and  was  enjoyed 
by  both  families  in  common. 

John  Stamper's  daughter  Mary  married  William 
Bingham  the  elder.  Hannah,  one  of  the  daughters  of 
William  and  Mary  Stamper  Bingham,  married  first  John 
Benezet  and  secondly  the  Reverend  Doctor  Robert  Black- 
well.  Doctor  Blackwell  was  thus  the  brother-in-law  of 
the  Honourable  William  Bingham,  who  married  the  beau- 
tiful  Ann  Willing   and   later   built   and   maintained   a 

43 


COLOMAI.  IIOMKS  OF  PHILADELPHIA 


princely  cstablislinient  in  Third  Street  when  the  "  court 
hfe  "  of  the  early  Hepiiblie  found  so  brilliant  a  setting  in 
Philadelphia. 

Kobert  Blackwell,  the  son  of  Colonel  Jacob  Blackwell, 
was  born  in  1748  on  Long  Island  where  the  family  had 
long  been  prominent  and  possessed  large  estates  along 
the  East  Kiver.  Blackwell's  Island,  opposite  New  York, 
was  once  a  part  of  their  property.  Robert  Blackwell 
graduated  from  Princeton  in  1768.  Before  studying 
theology,  he  seems  to  have  attained  some  proficiency  in 
the  science  of  medicine  which  he  afterward  made  good 
use  of.  He  apparently  read  divinity  in  New  York  either 
^^dth  Dr.  Auchmutv,  the  rector  of  Trinity,  or  with  Mr. 
Seabury,  afterward  Bishop  Seabury.  During  that  period 
he  spent  several  years  as  tutor  in  the  family  of  Colonel 
Frederick  Philipse,  the  lord  of  Philipse  Manor. 

AVhen  his  preparation  for  orders  was  completed,  Doc- 
tor Auchmuty,  in  A\Titing  a  letter  of  commendation  to 
Doctor  Peters,  the  then  rector  of  Christ  Church  and  St. 
Peter's,  says  of  Black wxll,  "  though  .  .  .  not  very 
showy,  yet  he  will  make  a  solid  .  .  .  minister.  .  .  . 
He  is  a  lump  of  good  nature  and  very  diligent  M^hen  he 
has  anything  to  do."  In  another  letter  he  says,  "  He  is 
a  good  lad,  and  will  be  useful,"  a  prediction  that  Dr. 
Blackwell  fully  justified — far  better,  after  all,  than  being 
"  showy."  After  ordination  he  served  the  missions  at 
Gloucester  and  St.  Mary's,  Colestown,  in  New  Jersey,  un- 
til the  war  completely  scattered  both  congregations. 

On  leaving  his  two  missions  he  went  to  Valley  Forge 
and  served  in  the  double  capacity  of  chaplain  and  sur- 
geon.    His  connection  with  the  Continental  Army  con- 

44 


BLACKWELL  HOUSE 


tinued  till  the  date  of  his  first  marriage  in  1780.  Not  long 
after  this,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  he  came  into  a  large 
and  valuable  estate.  In  1781  he  was  called  to  assist  Doc- 
tor White  in  the  joint  cure  of  Christ  Church  and  St. 
Peter's. 

His  first  wife  having  died,  he  married  Hannah 
Bingham  in  November,  1783,  whose  ample  fortune,  joined 
to  his  own,  made  him  not  only  the  richest  clergyman  in  the 
country  but  one  of  the  richest  men  in  Philadelphia.  Gris- 
wold  in  his  "  Republican  Court  "  speaks  of  him  as  con- 
spicuous in  the  society  of  Washington's  time,  and  after  re- 
ferring to  him  as  "  a  man  of  large  fortune,  fine  appearance 
and  singularly  pleasant  temper  and  manner,"  he  adds: 

Being  withal  a  man  of  unquestioned  piety  and  great  pro- 
priety of  life,  lie  maintained  a  dignified  position,  and  was  ex- 
tensively deferred  to  by  an  opulent  and  worldly  class,  who  would 
probably  have  deferred  to  no  one  else  less  blessed  with  adventitious 
influence. 

In  the  division  of  duties,  the  ministrations  at  St.  Peter's 
fell  largely  to  his  share.  In  a  way,  he  may  be  said  to 
have  been  a  "  court  preacher,"  for  Washington  was  a 
member  of  the  united  parishes  and  frequently  attended  ser- 
vice at  both  churches  as  did  also  many  of  the  Cabinet  and 
members  of  Congress,  for  although,  after  the  Revolution, 
there  was  considerable  animus  in  some  quarters  against 
the  Church  because  of  its  former  connection  with  the  State, 
there  was  still  a  good  deal  of  the  feeling  that  one  might 
be  a  "  Christian  in  any  church  but  couldn't  be  a  gentleman 
outside  of  the  Church  of  England." 

Not  two  squares  away  from  Doctor  Blackwell's  house 

45 


( Ol.OMAL  HOMES  OF  PHILADELPHIA 

was  his  brotlier-iu-law  AVilliam  Bingham's  spacious 
mansion  where  JNIrs.  Bingham  reigned  over  a  brilliant  cote- 
rie in  the  day  -when  she  and  JNIrs.  Robert  JNIorris  ruled 
Phila(lcli)hia  society.  During  the  time  that  jNIr.  and  Mrs. 
Bingham  spent  abroad  after  the  restoration  of  peace,  they 
were  busied  with  plans  for  the  house  they  purposed  erect- 
ing on  their  return  home.  In  describing  it  in  his  "  Re- 
publican Court,"  Griswold  says: 

The  domestic  architecture  of  London  and  Paris  was  a  sub- 
ject of  special  study,  and  the  mansion  of  the  Duke  of  Manchester, 
in  ISIanchester  Square,  London,  was  selected  as  the  model  of  the 
contemplated  structure  in  Philadelphia — the  dimensions  of  the 
original  being  somewhat  enlarged  in  the  copy.  Soon  after  they 
came  back  to  America  they  built  their  palatial  edifice,  so  well 
remembered  ...  as  the  Mansion  House,  in  Third  Street  above 
Spruce,  which  was  unhappily  destroyed  ...  by  fire.  Its 
width  was  spacious,  its  height  not  extended  above  a  third  storey, 
and  it  stood  perhaps  forty  feet  from  the  ordinary  line  of  the 
street,  being  approached  by  a  circular  carriage  way  of  gravel, 
the  access  upon  both  ends  of  which  opened  by  s\^^nging  gates  of 
iron  open  tracery.  A  low  wall,  with  an  elegant  course  of  balus- 
ter upon  it,  defended  the  immediate  front,  and  connected  the  gates 
which  gave  admission.  The  grounds  about  the  house,  beautifully 
diversified  with  walks,  statuary,  shade  and  partei-res,  covered  not 
less  than  three  acres  ...  its  entrance  was  not  raised  at  all, 
as  is  the  modem  style,  to  a  kind  of  second  storey,  but  it  brought 
the  visitor  by  a  single  step  upon  the  wide  pave  of  tessellated  mar- 
ble. .  .  .  Its  self-supporting  broad  stairway  of  fine  white 
marble — the  first  of  that  description,  probably,  ever  known  in 
America — leading  to  the  second  storey,  gave  a  truly  Roman  ele- 
gance to  the  passage.  On  the  left  hand,  as  the  visitor  entered, 
were  parlours ;  on  the  right,  a  room  designed  for  a  study ;  and 

46 


'         >     5        J      >     J  , 


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"■fTlffljiriili 

BLACKWELL  HOUSE 


opposite,  separated  by  a  lateral  hall,  a  library.  In  the  second 
storey  on  the  south,  were  a  drawing  room  and  card  rooms,  the 
windows  of  which,  looking  down  on  an  extensive  conservatory,  ad- 
jacent to  the  lower  parlours  of  the  same  side,  revealed  a  delicious 
prospect.  .  .  .  Much  of  the  furniture,  including  the  carpets, 
which  were  remarkable  for  their  elegant  richness,  had  been  made 
in  France.  The  site  of  all  this  magnificence  was  long  ago  cov- 
ered by  closely  built  city  houses. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  Doctor  Blaekwell,  either 
on  account  of  wealth  or  the  many  social  demands  made 
upon  him,  was  lukewarm  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties. 
He  was  a  faithful  and  devoted  parish  priest  and  tireless 
in  performing  all  the  works  of  his  office.  He  refused  to 
leave  the  city  during  the  yellow- fever  epidemic  of  1793, 
and  was  unremitting  in  his  attentions  to  the  sick  and  dy- 
ing till  he  was  himself  stricken  down  with  the  pestilence 
and  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life.  He  never  fully  re- 
covered from  the  effects  of  this  sickness  and,  in  1811,  ow- 
ing to  failing  health,  he  resigned  from  the  charge  of  St. 
Peter's,  thenceforth  devoting  himself  to  gardening  and 
study  till  his  death  in  1831.  The  Pine  Street  house  then 
passed  to  the  Willings.  In  recent  years  it  has  changed 
hands  a  number  of  times. 


EVANS  HOUSE 

322  DE  LANCEY  STREET 


ERHAPS  there  is  no  family  that 
has  maintained  so  active  a  concern 
for  the  testimonies  of  the  Society 
of  Friends  as  have  the  members  of 
the  Evans  family  through  many  gen- 
erations. They  were  established  in 
^5:^  this  country  by  Thomas  and  Ann 


Evans  who  came  from  Merionethshire,  Wales,  to 
G^^'ynedd,  Pennsylvania,  in  1698.  Thomas  was  the  son  of 
Evan  Ap  Evan  and  one  of  the  band  that  established  the 
Welsh  settlement  on  the  east  side  of  the  Schuylkill  and 
called  it  North  Wales.  The  Evans  family  of  Gwvnedd  are 
to-day  the  only  descendants  of  the  settlers  who  own  a  por- 
tion of  the  original  tract  granted  to  them  by  William  Penn. 
Thomas's  son  Evan  was  born  in  ^lerionethshire,  Wales, 
and  came  to  America  with  his  parents.  His  wife  was  Eliz- 
abeth Musgrove.  Jonathan  Evans,  his  son,  removed  from 
Gwynedd  to  Philadelphia  and  married  Hannah,  daughter 
of  Michael  Walton.  To  them,  on  January  25,  1759,  was 
born  a  son,  Jonathan,  who  learned  the  trade  of  carpentry 
and  built  the  house  at  322  Union  Street,  now  De  Lancey, 
which  is  so  well  preserved  to-day.  The  *'  Testimony  of  the 
Monthly  ]\Teeting  of  Friends  of  Philadelphia  for  the 
Southern  District "  says  that  Jonathan  Evans  had  a  lib- 
eral  education  in  Friends'  schools  and  was  somewhat  given 
to  dissipating  with  "  gay  and  volatile  companions,  giving 
himself  up  to  mirth  and  conviviality."  He  was  led  into 
a  religious  life  and  convictions  by  reading  William  Penn's 
"  Xo  Cross  No  Crown  "  and  separated  himself  much  from 

48 


EVANS  HOUSE 


the  world.  He  refused  to  fight  in  the  Revolution  and 
was  imprisoned  for  sixteen  weeks  therefor.  He  was  very 
firm  in  his  support  of  the  discipline  of  the  Society,  was  an 
overseer  at  twenty-four  and  an  elder  at  thirty-six.  In 
1786,  he  married  Hannah,  daughter  of  David  and  Mary 
Bacon,  who  lived  on  Market  Street  near  Second.  Their 
living  was  very  plain  as  was  the  furniture  of  the  house, 
and  Jonathan  was  careful,  in  his  business  of  building 
houses,  not  to  infringe  upon  this  principle. 

Jonathan  Evans  is  particularly  known  among  Friends 
for  the  prominent  part  he  took  in  the  troubles  of  the  So- 
ciety from  1823  to  1827,  which  led  to  a  division  in  the 
latter  year.  He  never  flinched  from  the  scorn  and  suffer- 
ing which  were  heaped  upon  him  at  that  time  and  was  one 
of  the  principal  witnesses  for  the  so-called  "  Orthodox  " 
party  in  the  lawsuits  which  arose  over  the  disposal  of 
property  belonging  to  the  Society.  He  was  very  zealous 
in  his  denunciation  of  Elias  Hicks,  a  minister  of  Jericho 
Monthly  Meeting,  New  York,  and  attacked  him  for  un- 
soundness upon  several  occasions,  propounding  a  definite 
Evangelical  creed  for  the  Society. 

He  retired  from  business  with  a  competency  many 
years  before  his  death  and  gave  himself  up  to  the  con- 
cerns of  Friends.  His  wife  died  in  1829  and  after  an 
illness  of  two  years  he  passed  away  February  8,  1839. 
His  whole  life  seems  to  have  been  passed  in  troublous 
times,  first  for  the  country  and  afterward  for  his  beloved 
Society  of  Friends,  so  that  we  can  imagine  the  house  on 
Union  Street  as  the  scene  of  many  solemn  gatherings  of 
notable  people. 

The  next  occupant  was  a  son,  William,  who  appears 

4  49 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  PHILADIXPHLY 


to  Iiave  been  a  youth  of  boiiie  spirit,  since  the  story  is  told 
of  him,  when  quite  young,  that  he  escaped  one  night  in 
his  night-clotlies,  went  down  to  Third  Street,  and  thence 
to  his  uncle's  near  Second  and  Market.  The  memorial 
of  him  states  that  he  was  exposed  to  many  temptations 
during  his  youth,  but  seems  to  have  withstood  them,  for 
lie  aj^peared  in  the  ministry  in  1817,  and  was  always  care- 
ful to  decline  business  transactions  not  in  accordance  with 
the  principles  of  Friends. 

In  1811  he  married  Deborah,  daughter  of  Aaron  and 
Abigail  Musgrove,  who  died  in  1815.  His  second  mar- 
riage was  in  1824,  with  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  and 
Rebecca  Barton,  a  minister  among  Friends.  She  died 
in  1861,  and  after  long  suffering  and  confinement,  w^hich 
he  bore  with  a  fine  fortitude,  William  Evans  died  JNIay 
12,  1867.  He  was  ill  with  yellow  fever  in  1820,  travelled 
widely  in  the  ministry,  and  was  much  interested  in  the 
education  of  Friends'  children.  An  occurrence  in  his  youth 
illustrates  the  liberality  of  the  early  Friends.  Walking 
one  day  along  Second  Street  near  Spruce,  he  passed  the 
house  of  Nicholas  Wain,  now  number  254,  and  was  called 
in  by  this  eminent  Friend  who  was  seated  on  the  front 
steps.  Going  into  the  house,  he  brought  forth  a  bundle 
of  church-warden  pipes  w  hich  he  handed  to  young  William 
Evans  with  the  remark,  "  Take  them  home  to  thy  father, 
he  will  need  them  at  Yearly  JNIeeting  time." 

In  connection  with  his  brother  Thomas,  beginning  in 
1837,  he  edited  a  series  of  fourteen  volumes  of 
"  Friends'  Library,"  made  up  of  "  Journals,  doctrinal 
treatises,  and  other  writings  of  Friends."  In  1854  they 
edited  a  new  edition  of  "  Piety  Promoted.'*    He  was  the 

50 


EVANS  HOUSE 


clerk  of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  which  meets  at  Fourth  and 
Arch  Streets,  for  many  years,  and  his  journal  was  pub- 
lished in  1870. 

The  last  to  live  in  the  house  was  William  Evans,  a  son, 
who  had  also  lived  in  the  Pine  Street  house  directly  back 
of  322  De  Lancey,  as  the  Evans  ground  extended  through 
to  Pine  Street.  William  Evans  is  an  elder  of  the  Society 
of  Friends  and  is  actively  engaged  in  its  welfare  as  his 
ancestors  have  been  before  him.  An  incident  is  told  of 
an  Evans  who  occupied  a  responsible  position  among 
Friends,  and  during  the  faithful  performance  of  his  duties 
in  the  meeting  had  occasion  to  seek  an  opportunity  with  a 
Friend  whose  preaching  was  not  acceptable.  His  labour 
seemed  to  be  unavailing  and  finally  it  became  necessary 
to  exclude  the  offending  Friend  from  the  meetings. 
Whereupon  he  obtained  access  to  the  cellar  and  one  First 
Day  morning  during  the  silence  of  the  meeting  his  voice 

was  heard  crying  up  through  the  radiator,  " Evans  is  a 

speckled  bird." 

The  Evans  family  were  distinguished  members  of  the 
Pine  Street  Meeting,  near  Front  Street,  where  Dorothy 
Payne  married  James  Todd.  She  afterward  became  the 
famous  Dolly  Madison,  wife  of  President  James  Madison. 


POWEL  HOUSE 

244  SOUTH  TIIIllD  STREET 

POWEL-BARING— RAWLE 


ARRING  dingy  and  discoloured 
paint,  Samuel  Powel's  house  at  244) 
South  Third  Street  shows  the  same 
front  as  when  its  distinguislied  owner 
lavishly  entertained  the  notables  of 
the  country  and  eminent  foreigners 
under  its  hospitable  roof.  A  low 
flight  of  broad  stone  steps  ascends  to  a  wide  pilastered 
doorway  beyond  which  a  spacious  hall  and  staircase 
are  open  to  view.  Quaint  turns  and  closets  are  at 
every  hand.  No  expense  that  might  contribute  to 
elegance  or  comfort  was  spared  when  the  house  was 
built  about  1769,  and  the  doors  of  the  rooms  are  of 
solid  mahogany,  while  a  rich  mahogany  wainscotting  runs 
all  the  way  up  the  staircase.  The  front  is  of  unusual 
breadth  and,  as  might  be  expected,  the  rooms  are  of  di- 
mensions far  bej^ond  the  ordinary.  The  largest  apart- 
ment in  the  house  is  the  second-storey  front  chamber  which 
was  the  ball-room  in  days  gone  by.  In  this  state  apart- 
ment, the  overmantel  was  an  exquisite  piece  of  the  wood- 
carver's  art  and  represented  a  hunting  scene  above  which 
were  wrought  armorial  bearings  in  high  relief.  Deli- 
cately finished  carving  was  also  to  be  found  in  other  parts 
of  the  house. 

Round  about  were  extensive  grounds  beautifully  laid 
out,  and  in  the  garden  was  a  profusion  of  lemon,  orange, 
and  citron  trees  along  with  other  exotics,  while  the  walks 
and  alleys  were  adorned  with  costly  statuary.    When  the 

62 


I'OWEL    IIOL.SK,    M.MnKU    24  i    SOt'TII    TIIIIU)    STUKKT 
Built  o.  \lC>i. 


POWEL  HOUSE 


Powels  lived  there,  in  the  whole  square  from  Willing's 
Alley  to  Spruce  Street,  there  were  only  three  houses  be- 
side their  own — that  of  JVIr.  Powel's  brother-in-law, 
Thomas  Willing,  at  the  corner  of  Willing's  Alley,  the 
palatial  dwelling  of  William  Bingham,  and  the  house 
of  his  wife's  brother-in-law,  Colonel  William  Byrd,  of 
Westover  in  Virginia,  that  dour  old  gentleman  whose 
sneering  ghost  still  haunts  the  rooms  of  the  stately  south- 
ern manor  house  where  he  died  by  his  own  hand.  The  sur- 
rounding neighbourhood  was  considered  the  most  fash- 
ionable in  the  city,  and  was  regarded  as  the  court  end  of 
town.  Now,  there  is  only  a  large  backyard  in  place  of  the 
old  garden,  and  much  of  the  fine  woodcarving  within  has 
been  torn  away,  although  the  mahogany  doors  and  wains- 
cot remain  to  attest  former  magnificence- 
Samuel  Powel,  born  in  1738,  was  the  grandson  of  the 
emigrant,  Samuel  Powell,  who  came  to  Philadelphia  in 
1685.  He  inherited  a  large  fortune  and  after  receiving 
the  best  education  the  city  could  afford,  graduating  from 
the  College  a  Bachelor  of  Arts,  he  made  an  extended  tour 
of  Europe,  where  he  and  his  friend,  Doctor  JNIorgan,  met 
the  Duke  of  York  in  Rome  and  were  "  often  at  conversa- 
tions and  assemblies  with  him."  The  Pope  gave  them  an 
audience  and  they  were  introduced  at  the  Court  of  the 
King  of  Sardinia.  In  England,  where  he  was  widely 
entertained,  he  spent  much  time,  and  also  "  had  the  honour 
of  being  presented  to  His  JNIajesty." 

Though  a  birthright  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
he  was  baptised  by  the  Reverend  Richard  Peters  before 
his  return  from  England  and  on  reaching  home  became 
an  active  and  prominent  member  of  St.  Peter's  parisli. 

53 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  PHILADELPHL\ 

lie  was  a  man  of  public  spirit,  took  keen  interest  in  the 
political  life  of  the  city  and  country,  and  held  responsible 
offices,  being  elected  a  common  councilman  in  1770,  alder- 
man in  1774,  and  mayor  in  1775.  He  was  the  last  to 
hold  that  office  under  the  old  charter  and  the  first  to 
hold  it  under  the  new  charter  in  1789.  From  the  fact 
that  he  was  the  last  mayor  under  the  royal  government 
and  the  first  under  the  republican,  he  is  often  referred  to 
as  the  "  Patriot  Mayor." 

Besides  his  interest  in  civil  matters  he  was  a  man 
of  literary  and  scientific  attainments  and  a  member  of 
the  American  Philosophical  Society.  Of  sound  judge- 
ment and  business  ability,  he  was  frequently  consulted 
in  matters  of  state  and  was  intimately  associated  with 
General  Washington,  who  was  often  a  guest  in  his  house. 

During  the  British  occupation  of  Philadelphia,  the 
Earl  of  Carlisle,  one  of  the  English  commissioners,  had 
his  quarters  in  INIr.  Powel's  house  and  in  ^vriting  thence, 
on  the  eve  of  his  departure,  to  a  friend  speaks  in  the  most 
laudatory  terms  of  the  host  upon  whom  he  had  been  quar- 
tered.    After  some  apologetic  remarks  about 

coming  into  a  gentleman's  house  without  asking  his  leave,  taking 
possession  of  all  the  best  apartments  and  placing  a  couple  of 
sentries  at  his  door,  using  his  plate,  etc., 

he  savs  of  ^Nlr.  and  Mrs.  Powel, 

I  make  him  and  his  wife  a  visit  every  day,  talking  politics  with 

I I  Kill,  and  we  are  the  best  friends  in  the  world.  They  are  very 
agreeable,  sensible  people,  and  you  would  never  be  out  of  their 
company. 

54 


'       '       > 


FIEEPLACK    AMI    <>\  I.U-M  A  \  I'KL    IN'    IJKOi  HAMHKK    OK    I'OWKI.    }|()tSE 


POWEL  HOUSE 


Both  before  and  after  the  Revolution,  the  Powel 
House  was  famous  for  its  hospitahty  and  both  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Powel  were  chiefly  remembered  for  the  lustre  they 
shed  on  the  city's  social  life.  The  many  distinguished 
men  who  for  official  or  other  reasons  visited  Philadelphia 
from  time  to  time,  or  were  in  residence  here  during  the 
period  when  Philadelphia  was  the  national  Capital,  were 
repeatedly  their  guests.  While  Washington  was  in  at- 
tendance at  the  Constitutional  Convention  in  1787  and 
during  his  presidency,  such  entries  in  his  diaries  as  the 
following  are  met  with  again  and  again: 

Saturday,  9. — Dined  at  the  Club  at  the  City  Tavern,  drank 
tea  and  sat  till  10  o'clock  at  Mr.  Powel's, 

Friday,  15. — Dined  at  Mr.  Powel's  and  drank  tea  there. 

The  Father  of  his  Country  was  not  the  only  person 
to  make  a  note  of  the  Powel  dinners.  John  Adams,  who 
could  always  be  trusted  to  chronicle  duly  anything  that 
tickled  his  palate,  licks  his  chops,  so  to  speak,  in  his  diary 
over  Mayor  Powel's  dinners,  and  sets  down  a  list  of  good 
things  to  eat  almost  as  long  as  a  detailed  menu.  Here 
is  one  of  his  diary  entries: 

September  8,  Thursday. — Dined  at  Mr.  Powel's  with and 

many  others ;  a  most  sinful  feast  again !  everything  wliich  could 
delight  the  eye  or  allure  the  taste;  curds  and  creams,  jellies, 
sweetmeats  of  various  sorts,  twenty  sorts  of  tarts,  fools,  trifles, 
floating  islands,  whipped  sillibub  &c.,  &c.  Parmesan  cheese, 
punch,  wine,  porter,  beer,  etc. 

From  this  it  may  be  seen  that  the  Powel  household 
fully  sustained  Philadelphia's  reputation  for  good  living. 

55 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  PHLLADELPHU 

^Irs.  Powel,  some  years  after  her  husband's  death,  sold 
the  house  in  1708  to  her  nephew,  William  Bingham,  who 
deeded  it  next  year  to  his  daughter,  Ann  Bingham  Baring. 
The  Barings  lived  there  but  a  short  time  and  then  the 
property  passed  to  various  owners,  William  Rawle  among 
others. 


RANDOLPH  HOUSE 

S21  SOUTH  FOURTH  STREET 

HILL— PHYSICK— RANDOLPH— KEITH 


HE  large  house  at  321  South 
Fourth  Street,  occupying  with  its 
high-walled  garden  all  the  space  on 
the  east  side  of  the  way  between 
De  Lancey  Place  and  Union 
Street,  always  attracts  attention  by 
the  beauty  of  the  great  fan-light 
over  its  door.  It  stands  on  what  is  known  as  the  Old 
Almshouse  Lot  which  included  all  the  ground  between 
Spruce  and  Pine  Streets  and  Third  and  Fourth. 
In  1772  this  tract  was  sold  and  Henry  Hill,  of  Madeira 
wine  fame,  eventually  became  owner  of  that  part  now 
occupied  by  the  house  under  consideration.  Here  he  built, 
in  1786,  and  lived  for  some  time. 

About  1800  he  rented  the  property  to  the  McCalls, 
and  it  was  here  that  General  George  JMcCall  was  born. 
In  1817  Doctor  Philip  Syng  Ph)^sick  bought  the  prem- 
ises and  from  him  the  house  has  descended,  through  the 
Randolphs,  to  its  present  owner,  Mrs.  Charles  Keith. 

Doctor  Physick  has  fitly  been  called  the  "  father  of 
American  surgery."  No  man  did  more  than  he  for  the 
advancement  of  the  science  in  the  late  eighteenth  and 
early  nineteenth  centuries.  Born  in  1768,  he  studied 
both  here  and  in  Scotland,  returning  in  time  to  perform 
invaluable  services  during  the  yellow-fever  epidemic  of 
1793  when,  as  resident-physician  in  charge  of  the  plague 
hospital,  established  by  the  city  authorities  at  Bush  Hill, 


57 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  PHILADELPHIA 


tlie  old  Hamilton  place,  he  distinguished  himself  by  signal 
bravery  and  devotion. 

Doctor  I'hysick  M'as  pre-eminently  a  thinker  and 
worker  but  not  an  author,  and  seems  to  have  had  an  in- 
vincible repugnance  to  appearing  in  print.  He  stood  for 
all  that  was  highest  and  best  in  the  profession  he  graced, 
both  as  lecturer  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and 
I)ractitioner,  and  was  thoroughly  tyjiical  of  the  old  Phila- 
delphia physician — a  classical  scholar,  a  man  of  broad 
general  culture,  as  well  as  a  master  of  medical  science  and, 
before  all  else,  a  gentleman  in  the  truest  sense,  courteous, 
kindly,  considerate,  and  self-sacrificing. 


WHARTON  HOUSE 

336  SPRUCE  STREET 

LEWIS— FISHER— WHARTON 


UMBER  336  Spruce  Street  stands 
on  what  was  originally  the  "  Old 
Alms  House  Square  "  deeded  July 
6,  1767,  by  the  Mayor  and  Com- 
monalty of  Philadelphia  to  the  Con- 
tributors for  the  Relief  and  Em- 
ployment of  the  Poor,  and  bounded 
by  Third,  Pine,  Fourth  and  Spruce  Streets,  three  hun- 
dred and  ninety-six  feet  broad  and  four  hundred  and 
sixty-eight  feet  long.  April  23,  1772,  these  deeded 
it  to  Edward  Shippen.  It  was  broken  up  and 
came  through  various  hands  to  Samuel  Pancoast, 
January  1,  1796.  Samuel  Pancoast,  "  House  Carpenter," 
was  of  Mansfield  Township,  Burlington  County,  New 
Jersey,  and  it  was  he  who  built  the  brick  house  then 
numbered  130.  On  Januarj^  14,  1796,  he  conveyed  it 
to  Mordecai  Lewis.  Mordecai  Lewis  was  descended  from 
William  Lewis  of  Glamorganshire,  South  Wales,  who 
came  to  Chester  County,  Pennsjdvania,  in  1686,  where 
he  resided  until  1707.  His  son  Evan  was  a  prominent 
Friend  and  served  in  the  Provincial  Assembly  from  Ches- 
ter from  1706  to  1719.  Evan's  younger  son,  Jonathan, 
removed  to  Philadelphia  in  17-17  and  married  Rachel, 
dauijhter  of  John  Breintnall.  INIordecai  Lewis  was  the 
only  son  of  this  union  and  was  a  proficient  student  of 
the  classics  and  a  prominent  merchant  of  the  city.  He 
was  first  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Neave,  Harman  & 
Lewis,  shipowners  and  importers,  then  with  Harman  & 

59 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  IMIlLADELPllIA 


Lewis,  and  linally  with  ^lordecai  Lewis  &  Company,  com- 
posed of  ^^'illiam  l^ingham  and  himself,  until  William 
]?inn^h;nii  witlidrcw  in  179-1.  Thej^  owned  seven  shijDS  in 
the  Last  India  trade  and  did  a  large  business.  ^Mordecai 
Lewis's  name  apjieared  on  much  of  the  Continental  cur- 
rency issued  by  Congress  in  1776.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  volunteer  military  company  but  never  saw  active 
service.  His  integrity  and  ability  caused  him  to  be  chosen 
a  director  of  the  Bank  of  North  America,  the  Philadel- 
})hia  Contributionship  for  the  Insurance  of  Houses  from 
Loss  by  Fire,  the  Philadelphia  Librarj^  and  the  treasurer 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital. 

The  Philadelphia  Contributionship  is  an  ancient  insti- 
tution formed  in  April,  1752,  by  John  Smith,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  Philip  Syng,  Samuel  Rhoads,  Hugh  Roberts, 
Israel  Pemberton,  Jr.,  John  Mifflin,  and  Joseph  Morris. 
The  announcement  was 

Notice  is  licrcby  given,  That  the  INSURANCE  OFFICE 
for  Sliipplng  and  Houses  is  kept  by  Joseph  Saunders  at  his  House 
wlierc  Israel  Pemberton  Sen.  lately  lived  near  the  Queen's  Head 
In  Water  Street. 

The  scheme  was  an  application  of  the  Amicable  Con- 
tributionship or  Hand-in-Hand  Fire  Office  of  London 
and  thus  the  four  hands  grasping  each  other's  wrists 
were  put  on  the  seal  and  house-mark. 

On  his  return  from  Europe  in  1772,  Mordecai  Lewis 
married  Hannah,  daughter  of  Joseph  Saunders,  the 
keei)er  of  the  insurance  office.  He  died  INIarch  13,  1709, 
beloved  for  his  integrity,  uno])trusive  benevolence,  and 
j)tiblic  service.     The  house  was  sold  by  his  executors  May 

fiO 


)         J      5\    >      3       J 

,  •>        1         •>      5 


>*>  SIJJ* 


WHARTON    HOUSE,    NUMBER    3:W    SPRUCE    STREET 
JSiiIlt  by  Siiiuufl  I'aiicoast  prior  to  17!)G 


WHARTON  HOUSE 


5,  1809,  to  his  son,  Samuel  N.  Lewis,  who  became  a  suc- 
cessful merchant  as  his  father  had  been  and  was  noted 
for  his  enlarged  views  and  public  spirit. 

Samuel  N.  Lewis  seems  to  have  lived  in  the  house  un- 
til November  4,  1817,  when  it  was  conveyed  to  Samuel 
Rowland  Fisher,  a  distinguished  man  and  prominent 
Friend.  Samuel  Fisher  was  a  merchant  noted  for  his 
hospitality,  charity,  and  sympathy  for  negroes  and  In- 
dians. He  was  a  member  of  his  father's  firm  of  Joshua 
Fisher  &  Son  for  whom  he  made  several  visits  to  England 
and  became  well  known  among  Friends  there.  During 
the  Revolution  he  had  much  trouble  owing  to  his  neu- 
trality and  consistent  Friendly  life.  He  was  exiled  to 
Virginia  from  1777  until  1779  and  was  arrested  for  a 
letter  to  a  business  partner  in  New  York  which  was  con- 
sidered inimical  to  the  government.  He  was  committed 
to  gaol  by  Chief  Justice  JMcKean  and  refused  bail  because 
he  was  unwilling  to  acknowledge  in  any  way  the  legality 
of  his  arrest. 

He  was  held  in  close  confinement  in  the  "  Old  Gaol," 
tried,  and  twice  declared  not  guilty,  but  the  jury  being 
sent  out  again,  amid  the  clamour  of  the  mob  outside,  re- 
turned a  verdict  of  misprision  and  treason,  so  that  he  was 
sentenced  to  imprisonment  during  the  war.  A  pardon 
was  soon  offered  him  but  he  refused  it  and  suffered  im- 
prisonment for  two  years,  finally  being  invited  to  leave 
without  terms,  so  that  he  walked  out  of  open  doors  with 
his  health  broken. 

The  old  house  was  his  wedding  gift  to  his  daughter, 
Deborah,  who  married  William  Wharton  in  1817. 

William  Wharton  was  the  son  of  Charles  Wharton 

61 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  nilLADELPHLV 

and  Ilaniiali  Redwood,  wlio  renounced  the  vanities  and 
tciu])tations  of  a  worldly  career  and  dedicated  the  powers 
of  a  cultivated  intellect  and  of  a  most  cordial  and  attrac- 
tive character  to  the  requirements  of  a  religious  life 
among  Friends.  He  Avas  a  gentleman  of  genial  wit  and 
gracious  dignity  which  matched  wtU  wdth  his  wife's  charm 
and  singular  beauty.  Their  country  house,  Bellevue, 
near  the  Schu3^1kill  River  below  Manayunk,  was  long  the 
mecca  for  their  friends  and  descendants. 

Deborah  Wharton  became  one  of  the  most  widely 
known  ministers  of  the  Society  of  Friends  and  visited 
many  different  parts  of  the  country  on  behalf  of  Indian 
welfare.  She  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  efficient 
managers  of  Swarthmore  College,  as  a  descendant  in  each 
generation  has  since  been.  Possessed  of  ample  means, 
she  gave  liberally  to  philanthropic  endeavours  and  was 
known  to  say  that  she  could  never  afford  to  wear  a  silk 
dress.  Her  children  were  trained  in  domestic  arts  and 
also  to  work  with  their  hands,  and  her  genuine  kindness, 
goodness,  and  strong  intelligence  were  factors  in  their 
notable  careers.  Ten  children  were  born  on  Spruce 
Street:  Hannah,  who  married  Robert  Haydock;  Rod- 
man, who  married  Susanna  D.  Parrish;  Sarah,  who  mar- 
ried Abraliam  I5arker;  Charles  W.,  who  married  Mary 
Lovering;  Joseph,  w^io  married  Anna  Corbit  Lovering; 
Mary,  who  married  Joseph  D.  Thurston;  William,  who 
married  Anna  Walter;  Esther  Fisher,  who  married  Ben- 
jamin R.  Smith;  and  Samuel  and  Anna,  who  died 
unmarried. 

Of  these  Joseph  Wharton  became,  perhaps,  the  most 
distinguished  for  learning,  philanthropy,  and  commercial 

62 


WHARTON  HOUSE 


success.  He  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  success- 
ful ironmasters  of  the  United  States,  owner  of  the  Beth- 
lehem Steel  Works  and  of  similar  undertakings  elsewhere. 
He  was  the  founder  of  the  Wharton  School  of  Finance 
and  Economy  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  a  lib- 
eral benefactor,  and  for  many  years  the  president  of  the 
board  of  managers  of  Swarthmore  College  and  a  promi- 
nent member  of  the  Society  of  Friends. 

Upon  his  mother's  death  in  1888,  the  house  on  Spruce 
Street  came  to  him  and  is  still  owned  by  his  estate.  It 
is  in  good  condition  and  beside  the  beautiful  doorway 
is  the  ancient  foot-scraper  and  the  sloping  outside  cellar 
door.  Back  in  the  side  yard  is  a  trellis  for  vines  reach- 
ing to  the  top  of  the  house  and  upon  this  young  Charles 
Wharton  was  wont  to  display  his  agility  to  the  dismay 
of  his  anxious  nurse.  On  each  anniversary  of  Deborah 
Wharton's  birth  after  the  seventy-ninth,  she  received  her 
family  and  friends  and  at  one  time  there  were  four  genera- 
tions represented. 

The  house  is  the  one  well-preserved  abode  upon  So- 
ciety Hill  where  the  quality  of  the  city  lived  and  prom- 
enaded in  Colonial  days. 


WISTAR  HOUSE 

SOITHWEST  CORNER  FOURTH  AND  LOCUST  (PRUNE)  STREETS 

SniPPEN— WISTAR— TYSON 


HE  black  and  red  brick  house  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  Fourth  and 
Locust  Streets  was  built  about  1750 
and  in  both  the  Colonial  period  and 
the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century  was  the  scene  of  much  hos- 
pitality and  entertaining.  Here, 
for  a  time,  lived  Doctor  William  Shippen,  the  most 
talented  member  of  his  family,  perhaps,  who  married  Alice 
Lee,  the  daughter  of  Thomas  Lee,  of  Virginia,  and  sister 
of  Richard  Henry  and  Arthur  Lee.  This  was  only  one 
of  the  many  marriages  that  wove  a  web  of  relationship  be- 
tween the  Colonial  families  of  Philadelphia  and  the 
county  families  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  a  connexion 
that  is  too  frequently  ignored. 

Doctor  Shippen's  alliance  with  the  Lees  made  his  house 
the  natural  centre  and  resort  of  most  of  the  Virginia 
aristocracy,  who  came  to  Philadelphia  in  great  numbers 
when  the  city  was  the  seat  of  the  national  government. 
During  the  winters  of  those  years  there  was  an  endless 
succession  of  balls,  dinners,  routs,  and  all  manner  of  gai- 
eties and  dissipation. 

Mrs.  Bingham  and  IMrs.  Robert  Morris  gave  the  most 
elaborate  and  sumptuous  dinners.    Mrs.  Adams  writes : 

I  should  spend  a  very  dissipated  winter  if  I  were  to  accept 
onc-lialf  tlic  invitations  I  receive,  particularly  to  the  routs  or 
tca-and-curds. 

64 


1     J  > 

5  ■>  J 


3  J  )      J 

5  3         3  3      3 


VVISTAU    llUl  SK,    SOI  TllU  K.ST    (OUNKU    OK    K»l  HTH    AND    i'KUNK    (loCUST) 
STREETS.       CADWALADER    HOUSE    TO    THE    LEFF 


WISTAR  HOUSE 


One  man  writing  to  a  friend  abroad  says : 

You  have  never  seen  anything  like  the  frenzy  wliich  has  seized 
upon  the  inhabitants  here;  they  have  been  half  mad  ever  since 
this  city  became  the  seat  of  government;  there  is  no  limit  to 
their  prodigality  and  .  .  .  might  say,  profligacy.  The  proba- 
bility is  that  some  families  will  find  they  cannot  support  their 
dinners,  suppers,  and  losses  at  loo  a  great  while. 

Speaking  of  the  frequent  tea-drinkings,  an  amusing 
incident,  illustrative  of  the  customs  of  the  time,  occurred 
at  the  house  of  Mrs.  Robert  Morris  upon  the  occasion 
of  the  Chevalier  de  la  Luzerne  taking  the  Prince  de 
Broglie  into  that  hospitable  household.  The  Prince 
writes : 

Monsieur  de  la  Luzerne  conducted  me  to  the  house  of  Mrs. 
Morris  to  tea.  I  partook  of  most  excellent  tea,  and  I  should  be 
even  now  drinking  it,  I  believe,  if  the  Ambassador  had  not 
charitably  notified  me  at  the  twelfth  cup  that  I  must  put  my 
spoon  across  it  when  I  wished  to  finish  with  this  sort  of  warm 
water.  He  said  to  me :  "  It  is  almost  as  ill-bred  to  refuse  a 
cup  of  tea  when  it  is  offered  to  you  as  it  would  be  for  the  mistress 
of  the  house  to  propose  a  fresh  one  when  the  ceremony  of  the 
spoon  has  notified  her  that  we  no  longer  wish  to  partake  of  it. 


>» 


In  1799,  Doctor  Caspar  Wistar  moved  into  the  house 
and  continued  to  live  there  until  his  death  in  1818.  From 
the  time  Doctor  Wistar  took  up  his  residence  there  it 
became  a  centre  from  which  hospitality  radiated.  Thither 
flocked  the  most  eminent  citizens,  men  of  note  in  every 
professional  and  scientific  walk  of  life,  and  thither  also 
gladly  came  the  most  distinguished  visitors  to  the  city, 
attracted    one    and    all    by    the    magnetism    of    Doctor 

5  65 


( OLOMAL   HOMES   OF  PHILADELPHIA 


Wistar's  remarkable  traits  of  character  and  his  genius 
for  intellectual  leadership.  As  a  result  of  this  affection- 
ate homage  by  his  friends,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  genial 
doctor's  courteous  and  unfailing  hospitality  on  the  other, 
grew  u])  one  of  Philadeli)hia's  most  cherished  institutions, 
the  Wistar  Parties. 

Tliey  originated,  it  seems,  in  the  follo\\'ing  manner. 
As  Doctor  Wistar  was  extremely  busy  with  the  profes- 
sional duties  incident  to  an  extensive  practice  and  as,  in 
addition  to  this,  the  chair  he  held  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  made  heavy  demands  upon  his  time,  his 
leisure  moments  were  necessarily  limited.  It  was  gener- 
ally understood,  however,  that  he  was  at  home  on  Sunday 
evenings  and  his  friends  fell  into  the  habit  of  dropping 
in  when  they  were  reasonably  sure  of  finding  him.  As 
the  years  passed,  these  w^eekly  gatherings  became  a  regu- 
lar institution,  the  same  group  of  friends  meeting  week 
after  week  at  Doctor  Wistar's  house  at  the  southwest 
corner  of  Fourth  and  Locust  Streets,  or  Prune  Street 
as  the  latter  w'as  then  called. 

Doctor  Wistar's  close  association  with  the  Philosophi- 
cal Society  made  his  house  the  rallying-point  of  all  the 
choicest  spirits  in  the  learned  world  and,  in  time,  there 
came  to  be  an  approximate  identity  between  the  personnel 
of  the  smaller  organisation  for  weekly  social  intercourse 
and  that  of  the  larger  and  world-famous  scientific  body, 
the  Philosophical  Societ}^  of  which  Philadelphia  has  just 
cause  to  be  proud. 

In  1811,  the  night  of  meeting  w^as  changed  from  Sun- 
day evening  to  Saturday,  and  the  refreshments,  which  had 
hitherto  been  of  the  simplest,  being  merel}^  wine  and  cake. 


fifi 


WISTAR  HOUSE 


became  more  elaborate  by  the  addition  of  ice  creams, 
raisins,  and  almonds.  The  terrapin  and  oyster  decadence 
had  not  yet  set  in.  The  number  of  guests  usually  ranged 
between  ten  and  fifty  and  the  regular  habitues  had  the 
privilege  of  bringing  whom  they  would.  Invitations  be- 
gan to  be  sent  out  in  October  or  November  and  continued 
till  March  or  April. 

After  Doctor  Wistar's  death  in  1818,  a  few  of  his 
more  intimate  friends,  who  had  been  in  the  habit  of  at- 
tending at  first  the  Sunday  and  then  the  Saturday  gath- 
erings for  many  years  previously,  determined  to  continue 
their  accustomed  meetings  and  retain  the  name  of  *'  Wistar 
Parties  "  out  of  a  warm  regard  for  the  memory  of  the 
originator.  It  was  at  this  time  that  membership  in  the 
Philosophical  Society  became  a  requisite  for  eligibility 
for  the  Wistar  Parties.  The  meetings  under  the  new 
regime  were  held  during  the  winter  every  year  till  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  put  an  end,  for  the  time  being, 
to  all  the  former  wholesome  conviviality. 

It  was  not  until  1886  that  the  Wistar  Parties  were 
resumed.  Ancient  traditions,  hoAvever,  have  been  loyally 
adhered  to  save  in  the  matter  of  the  viands  now  set  before 
the  Wistarians,  in  which  respect,  early  simplicity  has 
yielded  to  a  desire  for  more  bountiful  provision  of  tempt- 
ing cates.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  all  or  nearly  all  the  most 
distinguished  visitors  to  the  city,  whether  from  our  own 
country  or  beyond  the  sea,  have  been  invited  to  attend 
the  Wistar  Parties  and  they  have  all  been  enthusiastic 
in  their  praise  of  the  hospitality  shown  them.  Not  a 
few  of  them,  including  Thackeray,  have  recorded  in  print 
their  impressions  of  these  symposia  of  wit  and  wisdom. 

67 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

Among  the  noted  guests  who  made  either  regular  or 
occasional  visits  to  Doctor  Wistar's  house,  as  the  circum- 
stances of  their  being  or  not  being  residents  of  the  city 
l)ermitted,  may  be  mentioned  the  great  naturalist,  Baron 
von  Humboldt,  and  the  botanist  Bonpland,  who  visited 
Philadelphia  in  1804,  Captain  Riley  of  Arab  fame,  the 
witty  Abbe  Correa  de  Serra,  John  Vaughan,  Samuel 
Breck,  Doctor  Benjamin  Paish,  Chief  Justice  Tilghman, 
John  Ileckewelder,  the  ^Moravian  missionary,  Peter  Du 
Ponceau,  and  a  host  of  other  celebrities  whose  names  are 
a  sufficient  guarantee  of  the  brilliance  of  these  gatherings. 


MORRIS  HOUSE 

225  SOUTH  EIGHTH  STREET 

REYNOLDS— DUNKIN— MORRIS 


f  LMOST  the  only  one  of  the  really 
notable  old  houses  in  the  city  that 
has  not  in  some  way  been  aban- 
doned to  business  purposes  or  at 
last  made  into  a  lodging  house  for 
immigrants  is  the  Morris  House  at 
225  South  Eighth  Street.  Built  in 
Flemish  bond  of  alternating  red  stretcher  and  black 
header  bricks,  the  doorway  set  between  delicately  fluted 
and  quilled  pilasters  is  surmounted  by  a  pediment  of 
excellent  proportions  and  chaste  design,  while  on  one  of 
the  narrow  double  doors  a  brass  nameplate  bears  the 
name  of  Morris,  the  letters  of  which  have  been  almost 
obliterated  by  brass  polish  and  the  elbow-grease  bestowed 
by  generations  of  housemaids.  On  each  side  of  the  door 
are  two  windows,  while  on  the  second  and  third  floors  are 
ranges  of  five  windows,  all  with  small  panes  and  broad 
sash-bars.  To  the  front  wall  is  affixed  the  old  Contribu- 
tionship  insurance  badge. 

The  lock  inside  the  door  is  massive  enough  for  a  gaol 
and  the  key  looks  as  though  it  might  belong  to  the  Tower 
of  London.  Straight  through  the  house  runs  a  hallway 
to  a  door  opposite  the  entrance,  opening  into  a  garden 
full  of  box-bushes  and  rose  trees  and  old-fashioned 
flowers.  It  is  a  veritable  oasis  in  the  surrounding  desert 
of  city  bricks  and  mortar.  To  the  right  of  the  door,  on 
entering,  is  the  parlour;  to  the  left,  the  library,  and  back 

69 


(OI.OMAL    IIOMKS   OF   rillLADELPIlIA 

of  that  the  dining-room,  while  to  the  rear  of  the  dining- 
room,  in  an  ell  extension,  are  the  kitchens. 

The  house  was  built  in  1786  by  John  Reynolds,  was 
sold  in  course  of  time  by  the  sheriff  to  Ann  Dunkin,  and 
finally  was  purchased  from  her  in  1817  by  Luke  Wistar 
]Morris,  the  son  of  Captain  Samuel  Morris,  since  which 
time  it  has  passed  by  inheritance  from  one  occupant  to 
another  until  it  has  come  to  the  present  owner,  JNIrs.  Israel 
Wistar  JNIorris.  The  JNIorris  family  in  all  its  branches 
seems  always  to  have  possessed  the  fortunate  habit  of 
never  throwing  anything  away  and,  at  the  same  time,  the 
equally  happy  attribute  of  keeping  everything  in  order. 
Consequently  one  might  say  that  the  house  is  a  veritable 
museum  of  Wistar  and  Morris  heirlooms.  Every  bit  of 
old  furniture  and  china  has  been  carefully  preserved  and 
its  history  kept  fresh  at  the  same  time.  Among  other 
cherished  objects  dutifully  treasured  there  is  the  cele- 
brated Tally-PIo  punch-bowl,  presented  to  Captain 
Samuel  IVIorris  by  the  Gloucester  Fox  Hunting  Club. 

The  house  in  which  Captain  Samuel  INIorris  lived  at 
05  South  Second  Street  is  still  standing,  but  has  been 
so  altered  for  mercantile  purposes  that  it  seems  better  to 
speak  of  him  in  connexion  with  his  son's  house,  which  has 
remained,  in  every  respect,  characteristic  of  the  life  of 
Colonial  and  post-Colonial  days,  and  where  so  many 
things  connected  with  his  personal  use  are  preserved. 

Captain  Samuel  INIorris  was  a  man  of  singularly  ami- 
able personality  and  one  of  the  best-known  and  best- 
beloved  citizens  of  his  generation.  This  was  equally  true 
of  him  in  his  public  capacity  and  in  his  social  relations. 
An  excellent  horseman,  a  keen  sportsman  delighting  in 

70 


,1  5       1 

J  >  1  )      J 

J  ,  5        1  '      " 


)        >      ,        )      ,> 


J       ,-     5\     J      >         >> 


MoHRIS    HorSE,    NUMBER    225    SOUTH    EIGHTH    STIiKKT 
Jiuilt  by  John  Keynolds,  1786 


•:.\ 


MORRIS  HOUSE 


all  outdoor  recreations,  his  inclinations  led  him  to  assist 
in  forming  the  Gloucester  Fox  Hunting  Club,  of  which 
he  was  president  until  his  death  in  1812.  He  was  also, 
for  a  term  of  forty-odd  years,  Governour  of  the  "  Colony 
in  SchuylkiU." 

His  association  with  the  first-named  organisation  is 
of  very  general  interest  because  it  brings  out  clearly  the 
fox-hunting  side  of  old  Philadelphia  life  and  at  the  same 
time  calls  attention  to  a  striking  bit  of  City  Troop  history. 
Philadelphia  has  always  clung  tenaciously  to  the  manners 
and  customs  of  the  mother  country — among  them  fox 
hunting,  dear  alike  to  hearts  of  the  English  country  gen- 
try and  to  the  hearts  of  their  descendants  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic  and,  outside  of  Virginia  and  ^laryland,  it 
has  always  centred  around  Philadelphia. 

On  the  29th  of  October,  in  the  year  1766,  a  number 
of  gentlemen  of  Philadelphia  and  of  Gloucester  County 
in  West  Jersey  met  together  at  the  Philadelphia  Coffee 
House  at  the  corner  of  Front  and  Market  Streets  for 
the  purpose  of  organising  a  fox-hunting  club.  They  each 
agreed  to  subscribe  five  pounds,  current  money,  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  kennel  and  pack  and  for  defraying  other 
incidental  expenses.  It  was  decided  that  as  soon  as  a 
sufficient  number  of  gentlemen  had  subscribed,  another 
meeting  should  be  held,  when  rules  and  regulations  shoidd 
be  adopted  as  might  be  agreeable.  Accordingly,  on  De- 
cember 15,  a  second  meeting  was  held  and  rules  adopted, 
among  them  one  rather  quaint  regulation  providing: 

That  at  the  death  of  every  fox,  one  of  the  company  shall 
carry  about  a  cap  to  collect  what  the  company  may  please  to 
give  the  huntsman. 

71 


( OLOMAL   llOMKS   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


The  name  fixed  upon  for  the  organisation  was  the 
GlouccsttT  Fox  Hunting  Club,  and  the  clubhouse  and 
kennels  were  to  be  at  Gloucester,  in  West  Jersey,  as  this 
was  an  eminently  convenient  point  of  meeting,  both  for 
the  members  from  Philadelphia  and  for  the  members 
from  Jersey,  of  whom  there  were  not  a  few.  On  the  roll 
of  the  Gloucester  Hunt,  that  forerunner  of  our  more 
modern  organisations,  were  the  names  of  many  who  after- 
ward became  famous  in  the  history  of  our  country  and 
are  regarded  as  the  most  estimable  men  of  their  day 
and  generation. 

These  merry  gentlemen  used  to  meet  at  first  twice, 
afterward  once,  a  week  at  William  Hugg's  Inn,  Glouces- 
ter Point  Ferry,  New  Jersey,  or  at  the  company's  ken- 
nel on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  near  this  point.  They 
would  set  forth  in  the  keen  frosty  air,  after  an  early  break- 
fast, and  with  the  aid  of  their  faithful  hounds,  Ringwood 
or  Slouch,  Tipj)ler  or  Tuneall,  Bumper  or  Sweet  Lips, 
Sing^vell  or  Doxy,  Droner,  Toper,  Bowler  or  Bellman, 
or  a  dozen  others  bearing  equally  suggestive  names,  would 
pursue  puss  over  field  and  hedge,  through  woodland  or 
marsh,  till,  sometimes  late  in  the  day,  they  would  run  the 
wily  object  of  the  chase  to  earth,  and  then  would  come 
the  task  of  digging  out  in  order  to  secure  the  brush  for 
whicli  all  had  laboured  so  diligently. 

We  may  form  some  notion  of  the  appearance  of  the 
Provincial  hunters  as  they  took  the  field  from  the  follow- 
ing description  of  the  hunting  uniform  of  the  club  as 
noted  in  1774.  It  consisted  of  "a  dark  brown  cloth 
coatee,  wWh  lapels,  dragoon  pockets,  white  buttons  and 
frock  sleeves,  buff  waistcoat  and  buff  breeches,  and  a 

72 


MORRIS  HOUSE 


black  velvet  cap."  Thus  equipped  they  followed  the 
music  of  the  pack,  and  after  the  chase  sat  down  with 
sharpened  appetites  to  a  "  bountiful  hunting  dinner, 
flowing  bowls  of  governour  and  sparkling  goblets  of 
Madeira,"  joyful  in  the  display  of  the  brush,  and  fre- 
quently two  or  three,  as  trophies,  and  cheerful  in  a  sense 
of  jovial  fellowship  in  a  noble  sport. 

The  fox  hunting  of  the  Philadelphia  gentlemen  was 
not  confined  to  the  Jerseys,  for  we  find  frequent  mention 
of  hunts  held  at  places  in  both  Chester  and  Delaware 
Counties.  Jacob  Hiltzheimer,  who  saw  most  of  the  sport- 
ing side  of  Philadelphia  life  in  his  time,  makes  note  in 
his  diary  of  fox  hunts  which  occurred  with  considerable 
frequency  at  Darby,  Tinicum,  and  even  within  present 
city  limits,  for  on  December  12,  1767,  a  fox  was  dropped 
at  Centre  Woods  (where  City  Hall  now  stands) ,  "  which," 
he  says,  "  cifForded  an  agreeable  ride  after  the  hounds  till 
dark.  The  fox  ran  up  a  tree  on  the  Schuylkill  side,  and 
when  Levi  Hollingsworth  climbed  up  after  him,  it  jumped 
down  and  was  killed."  For  such  a  clever  and  unique 
performance  one  almost  regrets  that  it  was  not  allowed 
to  go  free.  No  doubt  it  would  have  afforded  an  equally 
agreeable  chase  again. 

When  the  dispute  with  Great  Britain  was  waxing 
hotter  and  hotter.  Captain  Samuel  Morris  and  a  number 
of  his  fox-hunting  friends  were  in  sympathy  with  the 
popular  feeling  even  to  the  point  of  preparing  for  re- 
sistance by  arms  and  when  the  Philadelphia  Troop  of 
Light  Horse,  the  oldest  military  organisation  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  in  the  United  States,  was  organised  in  No- 
vember, 1774,  out  of  a  membership  of  twenty-six  no  less 


78 


COT^ONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

than  twenty-two  were  members  of  the  Gloucester  Fox 
IIunlin«r  Chib.  It  appears  indisputably,  on  inspection 
of  records,  that  the  troop  originated  in,  and  was  chiefly 
composed  of  and  officered  by,  the  fox-hunting  gentlemen 
of  the  Gloucester  Club  and  members  of  the  old  Schuylkill 
Fishing  and  Fowling  Company;  many  of  the  sporting 
gentlemen  on  the  muster  rolls,  it  seems,  belonged  at  that 
time  to  both  associations. 

The  officers  first  chosen  were  captain,  Abraham 
Markoe;  first  lieutenant,  Andrew  Allen;  second  lieuten- 
ant, Samuel  Morris;  cornet,  James  Mease.  Captain 
Markoe,  being  a  Danish  subject  and  hence  forbidden  by 
the  edict  of  King  Christian  VIII,  of  October,  1775,  from 
engaging  in  the  war  against  Great  Britain,  resigned  his 
commission  and  Samuel  Morris  w^as  elected  in  his  stead. 

Before  his  resignation.  Captain  Markoe  presented  the 
troop  with  a  silken  standard  of  thirteen  stripes.  This 
fixes  the  date  of  the  manufacture  in  1775  and  prior  to 
the  Union  flag  raising  at  Cambridge.  Rear  Admiral 
Preble  in  his  "  History  of  the  Flags  of  the  United  States  " 
says: 

The  earliest  known  instance  of  tlie  thirteen  stripes  being 
used  upon  an  American  banner,  is  found  upon  a  standard  pre- 
sented to  the  Philadelphia  Troop  of  Light  Horse  in  1775  .  .  . 
it  is  possible,  that  it  may  have  suggested  to  him  [General  Wash- 
ington] the  striped  Union  flag  at  Cambridge  six  months  later. 

Throughout  the  Revolutionary  struggle,  Samuel 
Morris  served  with  distinction  both  as  captain  of  the  City 
Troop,  and,  in  his  individual  capacity  as  a  member  of 
the  Committee  of  Safety  in  1775,  as  a  special  agent  for 

74 


MORRIS  HOUSE 


General  Washington  ^\ith  whom  he  was  on  terms  of  great 
intimacy,  as  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  as  a  member  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Assembly  from  1781  to  1783. 

At  some  time  prior  to  1797,  the  members  of  the 
Gloucester  Fox  Hunting  Club  presented  Captain  Morris 
with  the  handsome  china  punch-bowl  already  referred  to, 
on  one  side  of  which  a  huntsman  is  taking  a  fence  while 
on  the  other  his  long-necked  barb  is  jumping  a  ditch. 
Captain  Morris  always  retained  his  love  for  outdoor 
sports  and  when  too  infirm  to  ride  on  horseback  he  often 
appeared  at  the  meets  of  the  Gloucester  Hunt  riding  in 
a  chaise. 

It  was  not  until  five  years  after  Captain  Samuel 
Morris's  death  that  his  son,  Luke  Wistar  Morris,  bought 
and  moved  into  the  house  on  Eighth  Street,  but  the  punch- 
bowl of  the  foregoing  story  and  so  many  other  personal 
mementos  of  the  captain  are  there  preserved  so  that  the 
place  seems  instinct  with  his  presence  and  the  connexion 
is  appropriate. 


BONAPARTE  HOUSE 

iGO  SOUTH  NINTH  STREET 

MEANY— PRICE— POrrER— JAMES 


HILADELPHIA  has  ever  offered 
a  safe  and  peaceful  asylum  to 
refugees  of  whatever  rank  or  con- 
dition, regardless  of  creed  or  the 
country  of  their  birth.  In  conse- 
quence, not  a  few  engaging  char- 
acters, with  strange  and  thrilling 
histories  back  of  them,  have  walked  her  streets,  some- 
times as  merely  passing  visitors,  sometimes  as  abid- 
ing guests.  One  of  the  most  picturesque  of  all  these  au- 
gust personages  was  Joseph  Bonaparte,  Napoleon's  elder 
brother,  who,  when  he  had  in  turn  worn  the  crowns  of 
Naples  and  Spain,  came  here  an  exile  after  the  erst- 
while master  of  Europe  had  paid  at  Waterloo  the  reck- 
oning of  his  overvaulting  ambition. 

The  ex-king  of  Naples  and  Spain  found  awaiting  him 
the  cordial  and  kindly  reception  his  countrymen  had  al- 
ways met  with  in  the  City  of  Penn.  He  reached  Phila- 
delphia under  the  title  of  Comte  de  Survilliers,  a  name 
by  which  he  usually  chose  to  be  known  during  his  residence 
here,  in  September,  1815,  at  about  the  same  time  as  a 
number  of  other  eminent  Bonapartist  refugees.  At  his 
verj^  arrival  he  experienced  an  act  of  signal  consideration 
and  ur])anity  that  made  a  fitting  prelude  to  the  cordial 
attitude  invariably  shown  toward  him  by  his  American 
neighbours  whether  at  Philadelphia  or  Bordentown. 
Ilenrv  Clav  had  iust  returned  from  his  mission  to  Ghent, 
and  the  iSIansion  House  was  full  to  overflowing  with  his 

76 


BONAPARTE   HOUSE 


entourage  of  friends  and  servants.  He,  however,  cour- 
teously vacated  some  of  his  apartments  that  the  ex- 
monarch  might  be  accommodated. 

Joseph  Bonaparte,  or  the  Comte  de  Survilliers  as  we 
shall  call  him,  rented  from  Chandler  Price  the  house  at 
260  South  Ninth  Street  as  a  city  residence.  This  house, 
though  not  Colonial,  is  of  early  date  and  is  included 
among  the  Colonial  Homes  because  of  its  interesting  his- 
tory. It  was  built  about  1812  by  a  Captain  Meany,  who 
became  involved  a  few  years  later  in  financial  difficulties 
and  sold  it  to  Chandler  Price  shortly  before  the  coming 
of  the  Comte  de  Survilliers.  Not  wishing  to  live  there 
himself.  Chandler  Price  rented  the  property  to  the  count, 
who  proceeded  to  furnish  it  magnificently. 

The  front  door  at  the  side  of  the  house,  if  one  may 
be  pardoned  the  Hibernianism,  opens  into  a  wide  hallway, 
to  the  east  of  which,  looking  out  on  Ninth  Street,  is  a 
small  breakfast-room.  All  the  rest  of  the  front  part  of 
the  house  is  taken  up  by  a  large  drawing-room.  Back 
of  the  drawing-room  is  the  dining-room,  an  apartment  of 
most  ample  dimensions,  big  enough  to  hold  a  regiment. 
The  paper  that  the  Count  had  made  for  himself  still 
hangs  on  the  walls.  The  cartoons,  representing  scenes 
from  the  story  of  the  amours  of  Cupid  and  Psyche,  were 
taken  from  the  designs  executed  by  the  artist  David  upon 
a  commission  given  him  by  Napoleon.  Thej^  retain 
their  beauty  to-day  in  almost  pristine  freshness.  Some 
of  the  Count's  furniture  from  his  estate  at  Borden- 
town  stands  in  this  room.  The  windows  facing  west 
open  on  a  broad  verandah  overlooking  the  garden.  The 
kitchen  is  in  the  basement  and  there  are  no  back  build- 

77 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

ings.  His  liouse  was  always  open  to  all  Bonapartists 
and  became  a  gathering-place  for  them,  although  as  a 
rule  he  seemed  to  enjoy,  particularly  in  his  country  homes, 
"  the  elegant  seclusion  of  a  private  gentleman  so  much 
more  than  he  had  the  cares  and  honours  of  royalty." 

For  a  summer  place,  in  1816,  he  rented  Lansdowne 
from  the  Binghams,  who  had  bought  it  from  the  Penns. 
Flere  he  was  a  near  neighbour  to  Samuel  Breck  of  Sweet 
Briar,  who  recorded  some  of  his  impressions  of  the  emi- 
nent refugee  in  his  "  Recollections."  He  notes  in  his 
diary  on  April  21,  1816: 

Farmer  Bones,  who  keeps  the  key  of  Lansdowne  House,  had 
another  opportunity  of  seeing  Joseph  today  and  ventured  to  ask 
him  to  his  house  to  take  a  drink  of  cider.  Joseph  went  in,  took 
a  chair,  and  after  drinking  praised  it  much,  inquiring  wliere  Bones 
bought  it. 

A  little  over  a  year  later,  in  conversation  w4th  Miss 
Rush,  he  learned  from  her  that  she  had  dined  not  long 
since  at  Joseph  Bonaparte's  or  rather  had  a  second  din- 
ner there,  "  for  the  ex-king's  hours  were  breakfast  at 
eleven  o'clock  and  dinner  at  eight  o'clock."  From  this 
it  is  quite  plain  that  the  Count  did  not  adopt  Philadelphia 
hours  for  meals,  as  dinner  somewhere  about  two  o'clock 
or  three  was  the  order  of  the  day.  Supper  was  at  seven 
or  sometimes  tea  was  at  six  and  a  hot  supper  was  served 
at  nine  at  night.     Some  years  after  this  Breck  notes: 

I  met  Joseph  Bonaparte  in  the  street  yesterday.  His  ap- 
pearance is  that  of  a  very  plain  country  gentleman.  I  thought 
one  of  tlic  nine  servants  he  brought  from  England  might  have 
bruslicd  Ills  hat,  which  looked  rather  sliabby. 

78 


BONAPARTE   HOUSE 


He  was  elsewhere  described  as  "  a  short,  muscular, 
amiable  country  gentleman,"  so  that  the  rusticity  of  his 
mien  seems  to  have  impressed  more  than  one  person. 

After  several  years  Chandler  Price  rented  the  house 
to  John  Potter,  an  English  merchant,  who  subsequently 
purchased  the  property.  Thereupon  the  Comte  de  Sur- 
villiers  then  rented  from  Stephen  Girard  a  house  at  the 
southeast  corner  of  Twelfth  and  Market  Streets,  formerly 
occupied  by  several  of  the  French  ministers.  At  Borden- 
town  Bonaparte  bought  for  himself — the  Pennsylvania 
authorities  would  not  consent  to  his  purchasing  property 
in  this  State — an  estate  called  Point  Breeze  on  the  river 
bank,  and  spent  a  great  sum  in  building  and  planting. 

Mrs.  Potter  for  a  short  time  after  her  husband's  death 
rented  number  260  South  Ninth  Street  to  the  Philadel- 
phia Club  before  it  moved  into  its  present  quarters.  She 
afterward  returned  and  her  family  have  lived  there  ever 
since.  It  is  occupied  now  by  her  granddaughter,  Mrs. 
Walter  James. 


PROVOST  SMITH'S  HOUSE 

NORTHEAST  CORNER  FOURTH  AND  ARCH  STREETS 


f  T  the  northeast  corner  of  Fourth  and 
Arch  Streets  stands  a  house  whose 
patrician  mien  compels  regard. 
Dingy  though  it  be,  shorn  of  its 
glory,  and  given  over  to  ends  of 
traffic,  it  arrests  the  eye  and  prompts 
a  question  anent  its  story.  In  1760 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania  had  it  built  for  the 
use  of  its  provosts,  the  first  of  that  honourable  line, 
and  the  first  to  dwell  there,  being  the  Reverend  William 
Smith,  Doctor  of  Divinity.  It  was  in  this  same  house, 
nearly  a  hundred  years  later,  that  James  Russell  Lowell, 
then  living  in  Philadelphia,  took  lodgings  for  himself  and 
his  bride. 

From  the  time  of  his  arrival  on  the  Philadelphia  stage 
of  events  in  1751,  Doctor  Smith  played  a  prominent 
part  in  both  the  social  and  political  life  of  Colony  and 
State  and  was  unceasingly  and  aggressively  active  in  the 
interests  of  the  Church  and  education.  His  pamphlet, 
"  The  College  of  Mirania,"  dealing  with  educational  mat- 
ters, attracted  favourable  attention  and,  in  1754,  not  long 
after  his  arrival  in  America,  he  was  chosen  to  preside 
over  the  College  and  Academy  of  Philadelphia.  To  his 
intelligence,  energy,  and  activity  in  its  behalf  its  imme- 
diate and  great  success  was  mainly  due.  He  visited 
England  on  several  occasions  and  solicited  aid  for  the  in- 
fant institution,  returning  with  substantial  contributions. 
His  efforts  for  the  College  and  Acadeni}^  were  unweary- 
ing and  his  zeal  for  any  worthy  public  or  philanthropic 

80 


i   '  ,  '   '     ' 
',  t    'ill 


RANDOLPH    HOUSE,    DOORWAY    OF    NUMBER 
321    SOUTH    FOXRTH    STREET 


-i 


HOUSE    OF    REV.    WILLIAM    SMITH,    D.D.,    FIRST    PROVOST 
OF   THE    UNIVERSITY    OF    PENNSYLVANIA,    NORTH- 
EAST   CORNER    OF    FOURTH    AND    ARCH    STREETS 

James  Russell  I.owi'll  lirouiilil  liis  liride  here  in  18 1 1 


PROVOST  SMITH'S  HOUSE 


cause  fully  employed  his  splendid  equipment  of  mental 
and  physical  powers. 

Apart  from  his  ecclesiastical  and  educational  inter- 
ests, he  pursued  scientific  investigations,  was  most  active 
in  the  formation  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society, 
edited  the  "  American  Magazine,"  speculated  in  lands,  and 
took  an  active  part  in  politics.  In  fact,  there  were  few  of 
the  affairs  of  the  Province  in  which  his  voice  was  not  heard 
or  his  hand  felt.  Not  only  of  an  active  and  resourceful 
genius,  but  of  a  combative  and  determined  disposition  as 
well,  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  ends  he  was  pursuing,  it 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  he  aroused  antagonisms  nor 
that  his  enemies  seized  the  opportunity  to  attack  him 
when  they  could.  A  happy  combination  of  militant  in- 
stinct and  good  judgement,  however,  generally  brought 
him  out  on  top. 

Attached  by  personal  and  political  sympathy  to  the 
Proprietary  party,  he  cordially  disliked  the  Quakers  who 
controlled  the  Assembly,  and  the  German  sectaries 
whose  support  enabled  them  to  do  it.  In  1758  Doctor 
Smith  and  Judge  Moore  of  Moore  Hall  were  imprisoned 
at  the  instance  of  the  Assembly  and  kept  in  gaol  for  three 
months  or  more — Judge  Moore,  because  of  his  published 
attack  upon  that  body,  the  final  event  in  a  contention  of 
three  years'  standing,  and  Doctor  Smith,  because  of  his 
alleged  aid  in  the  preparation  of  the  obnoxious  document. 
As  they  were  unjustly  imprisoned  they  refused  to  make 
a  defence  and  were  eventually  released. 

Doctor  Smith  was  not  idle  during  this  period  of  con- 
finement. His  classes  came  to  him  in  gaol,  where  he  lec- 
tured to  them  as  usual,  and  he  was  also  busied  ^vith  a 

6  81 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF  PHILADELPHIA 

matter  of  serious  moment  to  his  future  happiness — his 
eourtship.  Miss  Rebecca  Moore  visited  her  father  con- 
stantly, and  a  previous  acquaintance  between  herself  and 
Doctor  Smith,  through  the  medium  of  kinship  in  misfor- 
tune, grew  into  a  mutually  tender  affection  that  resulted  in 
tlieir  betrothal.  After  the  release  of  Judge  and  Provost, 
the  wedding  was  celebrated  at  Moore  Llall. 

Doctor  Smith  went  to  England  to  prosecute  an  appeal 
to  the  Crown  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  procuring  "  His 
Majesty's  high  displeasure  "  to  be  "  announced  to  the 
Assembly  at  their  unwarrantable  behaviour  in  assuming 
power  that  did  not  belong  to  them,  and  invading  the 
royal  prerogative  and  the  liberties  of  the  people."  Doctor 
Smith  continued  at  the  head  of  the  College  till  the  Revo- 
lution, when  the  Assembly,  with  the  memory  of  "  His 
Majesty's  high  displeasure  "  and  the  cause  of  it  still  rank- 
ling, ousted  him  and  proceeded  to  some  ill-advised  and 
unjust  legislation  regarding  the  institution,  reversed  in 
large  measure,  however,  in  1789,  through  Doctor  Smith's 
efforts. 

In  addition  to  the  town  house,  Doctor  Smith  had  an 
estate  of  his  own  at  the  Falls  of  Schuylkill  where  he  lived 
almost  entirely  during  his  last  years.  This  house  of  cu- 
rious design,  called  at  the  time  of  its  erection,  '*  Smith's 
Folly,"  is  still  standing  near  Queen  Lane  and  the  Ridge 
Road,  though  much  altered.  Doctor  Smith  was  known 
to  be  fond  of  a  good  dinner  and  once,  when  he  reproved 
one,  Godfrey  Shronk,  for  fishing  at  the  Falls  on  Sun- 
day, the  fisherman  j^romptly  replied,  "  Doctor,  if  your 
Sunday  dinner  were  at  the  bottom  of  the  Schuylkill,  you 
would  be  very  apt  to  fish  for  it  whether  it  were  Sunday 

82 


PROVOST  SMITH'S  HOUSE 


or  not."  The  Doctor  had  no  further  objection  to  offer 
after  that  home  thrust. 

After  an  eventful  and  most  useful  life,  Doctor  Smith 
died  in  1803  at  the  house  of  his  son,  William  Moore 
Smith,  at  the  southeast  corner  of  Fifth  and  Chestnut 
Streets  whither  he  had  been  renioved  from  the  Falls  by 
his  daughter-in-law. 

Connected  with  the  childhood  of  this  same  daughter- 
in-law,  who  was  Ann  Rudolph,  the  daughter  of  Colonel 
Jacob  Rudolph,  of  Darby,  a  most  interesting  story  is 
told  and  the  tangible  mementos  of  the  occurrence  are 
still  carefully  treasured  in  the  family.  Her  father  had 
given  her  a  calf  which  in  time  had  attained  to  cowhood 
and  was  a  great  pet.  When  the  British  troops  were  en- 
camped in  the  neighbourhood,  Cornwallis's  soldiers  drove 
off  the  Rudolph  cows  and  with  them  Ann's  pet.  Filled 
with  rage  and  indignation.  Mistress  Ann,  then  aged  twelve 
or  thirteen,  went  straightway  to  the  British  camp  and  de- 
manded to  see  Lord  Cornwallis.  She  was  led  to  his  tent 
and  on  seeing  him  she  exclaimed,  "  I  want  my  cow! " 
His  lordship  spoke  kindly  to  her  and  enquired  whether 
she  hadn't  a  father  or  brothers  who  could  have  come  for 
the  cow.  "  My  father  is  fighting  against  you  and  you 
have  him  shut  up  in  prison  in  Philadelphia,"  she  answered 
with  flashing  eyes.  Further  enquiries  brought  the  infor- 
mation that  her  brothers  were  all  busied  in  the  same  cause. 
Lord  Cornwallis,  pleased  at  her  spirit,  sent  the  cow  back 
with  a  soldier  to  drive  it  and  as  the  little  maid  was  leav- 
ing, he  stooped  down,  took  off  his  knee-buckles  set  with 
brilliants,  and  gave  them  to  her  for  a  token,  so  he  said,  "  to 
remember  a  British  officer  bv." 


THE  WOODLANDS 

BLOCKLEY  TOWNSIIIl',  WEST  PHILADELPHIA 

HAMILTON 


^^II^^IIE  Schuylkill's  banks  were  once  a 
veritable  paradise.  This  it  is  easy 
enough  to  believe  of  the  part  of  the 
river  that  flows  through  Fairniount 
Park,  but  it  takes  a  good  stretch 
of  the  imagination  to  picture  to 
oneself  that  portion  of  the  stream 
below  Callowhill  Street  bridge  as  ever  possessed  of  allur- 
ing sylvan  characteristics.  Before  factories,  w^harves, 
and  gas-works  blemished  its  shores,  however,  heart  could 
not  Avish  a  fairer  spot  than  the  rolling  ground  that  ex- 
tended all  the  way  to  the  borders  of  the  reedy  marshes 
near  the  mouth.  So,  at  any  rate,  it  seems,  thought  the 
Colonial  worthies  who  built  their  countryseats  overlook- 
ing its  waters  as  they  wound  by,  to  lose  themselves  in  the 
distance  amid  beds  of  rushes  and  sedgy  flats  that  well- 
nigh  conceal  the  entrance  and  caused  the  early  Dutch 
explorers  to  bestow  the  name  "  Schuylkill "  meaning 
"  Hidden  River." 

Below^  the  Market  Street  bridge,  the  site  of  the  old 
"  Middle  Ferrv,"  the  nearest  Colonial  mansion  still  stand- 
ing,  ])uilt  on  one  of  the  highest  points  of  the  west  bank, 
is  the  Woodlands,  the  countryseat  of  the  Hamilton  fam- 
ily, from  whom  a  part  of  West  Philadelphia,  east  of 
Fortieth  Street  and  south  of  Market,  took  its  name  of 
"  IlaniiUon  Village."  The  grounds  of  the  Woodlands 
long  since  became  a  cemetery,  but  the  old  name  remained 
witli  a  new  association,  far  diff'erent  from  that  to  which  the 

84 


THE   WOODLANDS 


gay  society  of  a  century  ago  was  accustomed.  The  house 
itself,  one  of  the  noblest  of  a  period  when  they  were  wont 
to  build  nobly,  now  contains  the  offices  of  the  cemetery 
company  and  shelters  the  family  of  the  superintendent. 

Like  so  many  of  the  old  houses,  the  Woodlands  has 
no  back  nor  front,  or  rather,  to  be  more  accurate,  we  should 
say  it  has  two  fronts  and  no  back.  Architects  in  the 
eighteenth  century  thought  it  not  necessary  to  make  a 
great  parade  of  the  scullery  and  kitchen  arrangements 
and,  for  the  most  part,  kept  them  well  out  of  sight.  Their 
existence,  however,  was  fully  proved  by  the  excellent 
and  bountiful  dinners  that  came  thence. 

Across  the  north  front  at  regular  intervals  are  six 
Ionic  pilasters  above  whose  tops  runs  an  elaborately  or- 
namented cornice,  the  whole  surmounted  by  a  pediment. 
Before  the  house  is  a  low  and  broad  paved  terrace  filling 
the  space  between  the  semi-circular  bays  that  project 
from  the  ends  of  the  building.  Between  the  two  middle 
pilasters,  a  round  arched  doorway  with  a  fan-light  opens 
into  the  hall.  On  the  south  or  river  front  a  flight  of  steps 
ascends  to  a  lofty  white-pillared  portico  from  which  a 
door  opens  directly  into  the  oval-shaped  ball-room,  once 
the  scene  of  many  a  brilliant  social  gathering. 

The  Hamiltons  were  noted  for  their  entertaining  and 
both  at  the  Woodlands  and  Bush  Hill,  the  latter  their  town 
house  of  which  nothing  is  left  but  the  memory  and  the 
seldom-heard  name  of  the  adjacent  neighbourhood,  lav- 
ish hospitality  was  extended  to  the  numerous  guests  whom 
it  pleased  them  to  honour.  The  land  comprised  in  the 
Woodlands  estate  came  into  the  possession  of  the  family 
in  1735,  being  purchased  by  Andrew  Hamilton,  the  first 

85 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


of  his  race  in  America.  Not  long  afterward,  a  house  was 
built  thereon  which  was  occupied  by  the  second  Andrew, 
who  in  turn  was  succeeded  by  his  son  William. 

Before  the  Revolution  this  first  house  made  way  for 
the  present  sjiacious  and  elegant  structure  which  was 
more  in  keeping  with  the  luxurious  tastes  and  manner  of 
life  of  its  builder,  the  William  Hamilton  just  mentioned. 
The  walls  within  were  hung  with  valuable  paintings  and 
in  the  library  were  shelves  well  furnished  with  the  choicest 
books,  for  the  master  of  the  Woodlands  was  a  man  of 
catholic  interests  and  withal  something  of  a  connoisseur. 
Extensiv^e  gardens  surrounded  the  house  and  contained 
an  extraordinary  collection  of  exotic  trees  and  plants  as 
well  as  an  abundant  collection  of  such  native  North  Ameri- 
can plants  and  shrubs  as  could  stand  the  Philadelphia 
winters.  There  was  a  greenhouse  whose  front,  including 
the  hothouses  on  each  side,  measured  one  hundred  and 
forty  feet.  When  Hamilton  was  in  England  after  the 
Revolution,  his  letters  to  his  secretary  show  the  utmost 
solicitude  about  all  his  plants  and  sometimes  there  is  evi- 
dence of  considerable  irritation  because  the  secretary  does 
not  remember  or,  at  any  rate,  does  not  tell  all  the  minutias 
anent  every  plant  on  the  place.  William  Hamilton  was  a 
born  gardener;  his  secretary  was  not.  This  visit  to  Eng- 
land proved  a  great  incentive  to  his  gardening  activities 
and  on  his  return  he  redoubled  his  efforts  to  make  the 
grounds  of  the  Woodlands  second  to  none  and  succeeded. 
He  it  was  who  introduced  the  Ginkgo  tree  and  the 
I^ombardy  poplar  into  America,  besides  many  other 
plants. 

William  Hamilton  loved  display,  kept  a  retinue  of 

86 


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o 


THE   WOODLANDS 


servants,  and  maintained  a  splendour  of  style  that  quite 
eclipsed  the  domestic  arrangements  of  most  of  his  neigh- 
bours. This  he  could  well  afford  to  do  for  he  was  one 
of  the  wealthiest  men  of  his  day.  When  he  drove  abroad 
he  commonly  went  in  a  chariot-and-four  and  postillion 
boys  in  livery.  He  was  fond  of  giving  dinner  parties 
and  always  surrounded  his  well-laden  board  with  an  as- 
semblage of  eminent  men  of  various  professions  in  addi- 
tion to  the  usual  coterie  of  social  celebrities.  Sunday 
was  one  of  his  favourite  days  for  dinner  giving  and  many 
were  the  notable  gatherings  that  took  place  on  Sunday 
afternoons  in  spring,  summer,  and  autumn.  Thursday 
was  also  another  day  always  associated  with  Woodlands 
parties. 

In  1762  when  he  graduated  at  the  Academy  of  Phila- 
delphia— that  was  before  the  present  house  was  built — 
he  gave  a  fete  for  his  college  friends,  among  whom  were 
men  afterward  prominently  kno\vii  in  the  affairs  of  the 
State  and  Nation  as  Judge  Yeates,  Judge  Peters,  Mr. 
Dickinson  Sergeant,  the  Reverend  Doctor  John  Ajidrews 
and  Bishop  White.  This  is  probably  the  first  University 
class  dinner  of  which  we  have  any  record. 

When  the  Revolution  broke  out  William  Hamilton 
at  first  espoused  the  patriot  side  and  raised  a  regiment  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  Woodlands.  He  was,  however, 
opposed  to  a  complete  break  with  the  mother  country 
and  upon  the  Declaration  of  Independence  he  resigned 
his  commission.  After  the  British  evacuation  of  Phila- 
delphia he  was  arrested  for  high  treason,  charged  with 
assisting  the  British  troops.     Notwithstanding  the  ran- 

87 


COLONIAL    I1()MP:S   OF   rillLADELPHIA 


corous  zeal  of  his  ancestors,  he  was  acquitted  and  allowed 
to  remain  in  ])osscssion  of  his  estates. 

Until  the  time  of  William  Hamilton's  death  in  1811, 
the  "Woodlands  remained  one  of  the  most  notable  seats 
about  the  city.  Additions  were  constantlj^  being  made 
to  the  collections  both  within  the  house  and  in  the  gardens. 
Even  after  his  death,  and  until  the  estate  passed  from  the 
hands  of  the  family  and  heirs  and  was  converted  into  a 
place  of  sepulture,  it  retained  not  a  little  of  its  wonted 
charm  and  state. 

AVilliam  Hamilton  of  the  Woodlands  was  a  nephew 
of  Governour  James  Hamilton  to  whom  William  Hallam 
and  his  Old  American  Company  made  application  to 
be  allowed  to  open  a  theatre  and  give  a  series  of  plays  in 
Philadelphia.  Further  than  granting  this  permission,  the 
Hamiltons  had  no  particular  connexion  with  the  city's 
theatrical  history  except  that  they  were  always  interested 
patrons  and  fautors  of  progress  and  art  in  w^hatever 
form.  No  better  opportunity  than  this,  however,  will 
offer  to  touch  upon  a  subject  that  played  an  important 
part  in  the  social  life  of  the  period  in  which  the  Hamiltons 
figured  largely. 

In  1749  an  abortive  attempt  had  been  made  by  a  band 
of  strolling  players  to  give  dramatic  productions  in  Phila- 
delphia. Pursuant  to  the  permission  granted,  the  drama 
was  really  introduced  in  Philadelphia  in  April,  1754,  in 
a  storehouse  on  Water  Street  near  Pine,  belonging  to  Mr. 
William  Plumstead.  Despite  the  storm  of  opposition  on 
the  part  of  the  Friends  and  the  stricter  sort  among  the 
sects,  this  building  was  secured  and  fitted  up  as  a  theatre 
and  the  company  started  its  run  of  twenty-four  plays 

88 


THE   WOODLANDS 


with  their  attendant  afterpieces,  having  previously  given 
their  assurance  that  they  would  offer  "  nothing  indecent 
and  immoral."  The  first  performance  consisted  of  "  The 
Fair  Penitent  "  followed  by  "  Miss  in  Her  Teens."  The 
venture  was  so  great  a  success  that  the  authorities  ex- 
tended the  time  beyond  the  limit  at  first  set  for  the  stay 
of  the  troupe. 

The  forebears  of  modern  theatre-goers  paid  for  their 
amusement  at  the  following  rates  in  1754: 

Box,  six  shillings;  pit,  four  shillings;  and  gallery,  two  shil- 
lings, six  pence. 

The  performances  began  at  six  o'clock,  as  the  players  deemed 
"  it  would  be  a  great  inconvenience  "  to  keep  their  patrons  out 
late.  When  the  play  was  over,  link-boys  and  servants  were  wait- 
ing to  light  their  masters  and  mistresses  home.  If  the  weather 
was  wet  and  the  walking  bad,  the  fine  ladies  and  gentlemen,  who 
had  just  been  regaled  by  the  art  of  the  Thespians,  were  obliged 
to  wend  their  way  gingerly  on  clogs  and  mud-pattens  at  the  im- 
minent risk  of  spoiling  their  silks  and  satins. 

Years  after  this,  when  the  old  Southwark  Theatre  was  in  the 
heyday  of  its  glory,  the  mud  and  water  in  bad  weather  were  se- 
rious obstacles  to  those  attending  the  plays,  carriages  were  very 
frequently  stuck  in  the  mire,  and  on  one  occasion,  General  Wash- 
ington had  to  wait  an  hour  after  the  play  before  his  coach  could 
get  to  the  door.  Pedestrians  had  to  walk  on  planks  laid  to  the 
door  of  the  theatre,  and  at  last,  when  a  brick  pavement  was  laid 
from  Lombard  Street,  its  advent  was  hailed  with  delight. 

The  first  theatre  in  Philadelphia,  purposely  erected  for  the 
exhibition  of  plays,  stood  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Vernon  and 
South  or  Cedar  Streets,  and  was  opened  in  1759  by  David 
Douglass,  the  manager  of  the  American  company  started  by  the 
Hallams.     A  few  vears  later,  in  1766,  the  first  theatre  at  South 

89 


COLONIAL    IIOAILS   OF    nilLADELPIIIA 


and  Vernon  Streets  proving  too  small,  another  was  built  in  South 
Street  above  Fourth,  and  Hiis  old  Southwark  or  South  Street 
Theatre  continued  a  fashionable  phxce  of  amusement  long  after 
the  new  theatre  in  Chestnut  Street  was  opened  in  1794. 

An  amusing  incident  showing  the  rancorous  anti-theatrical 
spirit  of  some,  even  after  the  theatre  was  fully  established,  comes 
to  light  in  a  letter  to  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette  of  1768.  The 
correspondent  (he  was  not  a  Friend)  feels  deeply  outraged  be- 
cause, a  few  evenings  previous  to  his  communication,  being  invited 
out  to  tea  with  a  company,  to  most  of  whom  he  was  an  entire 
stranger,  one  of  the  gentlemen  present  had  generously  bestowed 
tickets  for  the  play  upon  all  who  were  there.  Being  a  stranger, 
he  had  accepted  the  ticket  out  of  complaisance,  but  was  determined 
not  to  use  it.  The  company  was  much  embarrassed  about  using 
the  tickets,  for  some  of  them  had  been  minded  to  go  to  St.  Paul's 
Church  that  evening  to  hear  a  sermon.  It  was  finally  agreed  to 
settle  the  question,  whether  they  should  hear  a  sermon  or  see  a 
play,  by  drawing  cards.  The  result  was  in  favour  of  the  theatre. 
The  scandalised  correspondent,  having  no  taste  for  such  exhibi- 
tions, and  being  too  good  to  go  to  such  an  infamous  place,  with 
rare  generosity  bestowed  the  ticket,  which  granted  entrance  to 
the  *'  temple  of  perdition,'*  on  a  negro.  The  "  virtuous  slave," 
instead  of  ha\-ing  his  morals  corrupted,  "  sold  the  ticket  for  half 
price,  with  which  he  immediately  purchased  a  prayer-book  "  !  The 
slave's  example  is  highly  commended  by  the  correspondent.  His 
own  virtue  (.'')  in  giving  a  ticket  to  an  "immoral  place"  to  an 
irresponsible  slave  apparently  did  not  strike  him.  His  conduct 
was  much  like  that  of  a  young  woman,  who,  feeling  that  her  fond- 
ness for  flummery  and  furbelows  was  dragging  her  soul  to  perdi- 
tion, "  took  'cm  all  off  and  gave  'em  to  her  sister." 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  theatres  were  closed  for  two 
reasons:  in  the  first  place,  the  Continental  Congress  had  recom- 
mended that  all  unnecessary  expenses  and  extravagances  should 

00 


THE   WOODLANDS 


be  dispensed  with,  and  in  the  second  place,  nearly  all  the  actors 
were  Loyalists,  and  the  patriots  commonly  felt  that  "  loyal  sen- 
timents from  the  mouths  of  equally  loyal  players "  would  not 
aid  the  cause  of  liberty.  The  actors,  therefore,  their  occupations 
gone,  betook  themselves  either  to  England  or  the  West  Indies, 
those  more  loyal  colonies  of  George  III.  The  British,  on  the 
other  hand,  Durang  tells  us  in  his  history  of  the  American  stage, 
fostered  the  theatre  at  every  town:  "Wherever  the  British  army 
was  garrisoned  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  there  did  they 
declaim  Shakespeare  and  other  productions  of  English  authors, 
if  a  dramatic  temple  could  be  found."  The  officers  began  their 
theatrical  career  in  Boston,  and  General  Burgoyne  appears  in 
the  role  of  playwright,  giving  us  "  The  Maid  of  the  Oaks,"  "  The 
Heiress,"  and  a  farce  entitled  "  The  Blockade  of  Boston." 

During  the  British  occupancy  of  Philadelphia,  the  theatre  in 
South  Street  was  reopened,  and  the  officers  diligently  set  about 
giving  plays  for  their  own  pastime  and  the  amusement  of  the 
Loyalist  citizens.  The  proceeds  were  given  for  the  relief  of 
widows  and  orphans  of  soldiers.  Major  Andre  and  Captain  De- 
lancy,  both  talented  artists,  busied  themselves  painting  scenes. 
The  drop  curtain  painted  by  Major  Andre,  remained  in  use  until 
the  theatre  was  destroyed  in  1821. 

According  to  the  description  given  of  him  by  a  contemporary 
employee  of  the  theatre,  "  Major  Andre  was  a  very  slight  figured 
young  man,  with  a  round,  fair  face,  and  fair  hair.  He  was  very 
active,  always  hopping  about  the  stage,  and  never  out  of  humour." 
He  was  once  heard  to  say  that  he  "  could  out-hop,  skip,  and 
jump  any  man  about  the  theatre."  From  the  same  source,  we 
learn  that  play-books  were  very  scarce,  and  all  the  officers  used 
to  sit  around  a  table  on  the  stage,  trying  to  copy  their  parts 
out  of  one  book.  When  any  piece  was  to  be  rehearsed,  the  sol- 
diers' wives  and  other  idlers  would  flock  about  the  back  door 
and  peer  in  at  what  was  going  forward. 

91 


( OLOMAI.    lIO^[i:S   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

Many  good  plays  were  creditably  presented  by  the  officers, 
and  fully  a})preciatcd  by  the  audience.  General  Howe  often  at- 
tended and  sat  in  one  of  the  stage  boxes,  over  which  hung  the 
British  anns,  the  same  box  afterwards  used  by  General  Wash- 
ington when  President,  the  British  arms  being  replaced  by  those 
of  the  United  States. 

In  the  early  days,  reserved  seats  were  unknown,  and  it  was 
the  custom  for  people  to  send  their  servants  to  get  good  seats 
and  occupy  them  until  they  arrived  themselves.  It  was  found 
necessary  to  make  a  regulation  to  the  effect  that  all  servants 
must  be  out  of  the  theatre  before  the  curtain  rose,  and  also  that 
no  children  in  laps  would  be  admitted. 

Notice  had  to  be  given  that  no  airs  would  be  played  except 
those  that  had  been  requested  the  day  before  the  performance,  and 
that  no  demands  for  popular  tunes  would  be  acceded  to  at  the 
time  of  the  play. 

Patrons  were  requested  to  bring  the  exact  amount  of  the  price 
of  their  admissions,  as  much  difficulty  was  occasioned  in  making 
change.  In  some  cases,  no  one  was  admitted  without  a  ticket 
previously  purchased,  as  the  doorkeepers  were  prohibited  from 
taking  money. 

Trouble  was  often  caused  by  gentlemen  insisting  on  going 
back  of  the  scenes,  and  sometimes  they  got  on  the  stage  and  se- 
riously interfered  with  the  performance  of  the  play.  This  was 
quite  a  common  occurrence  on  benefit  nights. 

It  is  amusing  in  these  days  of  iced  air  for  cooling  theatres  in 
warm  weather  to  note  early  attempts  at  making  the  Southwark 
Theatre  comfortable  in  summer.  We  are  told  that  "  durincr  the 
month  of  June  (1791),  in  order  to  keep  the  place  cool,  two  fire- 
engines  were  employed  daily,  to  play  on  the  roof  and  against  the 
walls." 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  Revolution,  and  for  some  time 
after  the  close  of  the  war,  dramatic  affairs  were  in  sorry  plight, 

92 


THE   WOODLANDS 


but  in  1786,  the  Old  American  Company,  as  it  called  itself,  re- 
turned in  all  its  glory,  and  the  theatre  in  Southwark  once  more 
opened  its  doors  to  thronging  audiences.  President  Washington 
frequently  attended  the  play,  and  whenever  he  did  so,  his  pres- 
ence always  filled  the  house  with  a  large  following  of  the  most 
prominent  people.  He  was  especially  fond  of  "  The  School  for 
Scandal "  and  "  The  Poor  Soldier,"  and  both  these  plays  were 
often  acted  at  his  request. 


BARTRAM  HOUSE 

KINGSESSIiNG.  \VEST  PHILADELPHIA 

BARTRAM— EASTWICK 


ESCENDING  the  Schuylkill,  the 
next  Colonial  seat  of  interest  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  river  below  the 
Woodlands  is  the  Bartram  House 
which,  with  the  surrounding  gar- 
dens, the  City  now  owns.  The  Lower 
Ferry  or  Gray's  Ferry,  it  was 
known  by  both  names,  was  originally  the  means  by 
which  almost  all  southern  and  western  travel  entered 
the  city  so  that  it  was  an  extremely  important  place. 
Just  south  of  this  spot,  in  1728,  John  Bartram  bought 
a  tract  of  land  afterward  to  become  famous  as  a 
botanical  garden.  On  this  farm  was  a  small  house  dating 
from  Swedish  times  but  insufficient,  presumably,  for 
the  needs  of  Bartram  for,  in  1730,  he  began  to  build  what 
may  be  considered  the  main  portion  of  the  house  and  fin- 
ished it  in  1731,  perpetuating  the  date  of  its  completion  by 
setting  a  stone  in  the  gable  bearing  the  inscription: 

0Eo:s  snzn 

(May  God  save) 
JOHN  AND  ANN  BARTRAM,  1731 

That  he  actually  laboured  on  the  walls  with  his  own 
hands  is,  perhaps,  too  much  to  say  positively,  but  at  any 
rate  tradition,  and  seemingly  reliable  tradition  at  that, 
lias  it  that  he  did.  Of  the  many  successive  alterations  and 
additions  the  house  has  undergone  and  of  which  it  shows 
more  traces  inside  than  out,  it  appears  that  the  last  must 

94 


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BARTRAM  HOUSE 


have  been  made  somewhere  near  1770,  at  which  time  he 
placed  a  carven  stone  above  his  study  window  bearing  the 
inscription: 

It  is  God  alone  almyty  Lord 
The  holy  One  by  me  ador'd. 
John  Bartram,  1770. 

The  Bartram  House,  like  the  Woodlands,  though  by 
no  means  nearly  so  pretentious,  has  interesting  fronts 
both  east  and  west.  The  east  or  river  front  with  its 
great  roughly  hewn  stones,  its  rude  pillars,  its  cluster- 
ing ivy,  and  the  rose  vines  by  the  windows  has  an  air  of 
mingled  refinement  and  rusticity,  a  strange  combination 
of  simplicity  and  stateliness.  There  is  nothing  quite  like 
it  anywhere  else.  The  usual  entrance  is  on  the  west  side 
of  the  house  by  a  trellis-shaded  doorway  at  each  side  of 
which  are  little  Dutch  seats. 

Within,  the  house  discloses  no  particular  plan,  as  in- 
deed it  could  scarcely  be  expected  to  since  it  has  grown 
through  so  many  years  by  capricious  additions,  made 
when  divers  occasions  and  times  demanded.  In  the  space 
it  contains,  without  appearing  spacious,  and  in  the  unex- 
pected way  that  rooms  multiply,  it  is  not  unlike  some 
of  the  old  Dutch  houses  of  the  Hudson. 

iThe  story  is  told  of  Bartram  that  one  day  as  he  was 
ploughing  he  stopped  to  rest  in  the  shade  of  a  tree.  By 
chance  he  plucked  a  daisy  as  he  sat  there  and  musing 
upon  its  structure  was  impelled  to  learn  something  con- 
cerning its  history,  habits,  and  uses.  From  this  small 
beginning  came  the  impulse  that  spurred  him  to  the  studies 
and  investigations  that  placed  him  in  the  foremost  rank 

95 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

of  botanists.  Ordinarily  in  autumn,  when  he  could  spare 
the  time  from  his  farm  labours,  Bartram  travelled  exten- 
sively through  the  Colonies  gathering  plants  for  his 
collection. 

The  great  cypress  tree,  twenty-seven  feet  in  circum- 
ference, whose  lifeless  trunk  is  still  standing,  he  brought 
with  him  as  a  seedling  in  his  saddle-bags  from  Florida. 
The  rare  trees  and  shrubs  of  which  the  garden  is  full  he 
collected  with  indefatigable  enthusiasm  during  many 
years.  Some  of  them  have  grown  to  a  size  rarely  seen, 
such,  for  instance,  as  the  box  trees  which  are  exceeded 
only  by  those  at  the  Grange.  Throughout  his  life  Par- 
tram  strove  with  untiring  zeal  to  make  his  botanical  col- 
lections as  complete  as  the  limited  facilities  at  his  com- 
mand would  permit,  and  what  he  accomplished  in  this 
respect  was  little  short  of  marvellous. 

Hector  St.  John,  in  his  travels,  gives  a  striking  pict- 
ure of  the  simple  mode  of  life  in  the  Bartram  household 
in  1785,  when  William  Bartram  was  master  in  his 
father's  stead,  maintaining  everj^thing  both  within  the 
house  and  outside  as  it  had  been  during  the  lifetime  of 
the  elder  Bartram.  At  the  head  of  the  long  table,  says 
St.  John,  sat  the  master,  below  him  sat  family  and  guests, 
still  lower  at  the  board  were  the  men  who  laboured  on  the 
farm,  and  lowest  of  all  were  the  negro  slaves.  The  fare 
was  plentiful  and  well  cooked.  Notwithstanding  this 
exceedingly  patriarchal  and  democratic  custom  of  the 
household,  Bartram  cherished  the  traditions  of  his  fam- 
ily's descent  and  had  his  arms  properly  blazoned  hanging 
on  the  wall. 

As  one  wanders  about  the  gardens  to-day,  it  is  no 

96 


BARTRAM  HOUSE 


unusual  thing  to  chance  upon  some  rare  plant,  brought 
thither  and  naturalised  more  than  a  century  ago,  not  to 
be  found  anywhere  else  perhaps  for  hundreds  of  miles. 
Everything  about  the  place  is  impressed  with  Bartram's 
personality.  The  inscriptions  on  the  wall,  the  old  cider- 
mill  hewn  out  of  the  rock  by  the  river  bank,  the  grave 
of  a  favourite  Indian  slave  not  many  rods  away,  the 
great  stone  trough  for  gold-fish  by  the  east  end  of  the 
house — all  these  seem  in  some  indefinable  way  to  reflect 
the  presence  of  that  simple-minded  great  man,  the  father 
of  American  botanists. 

John  Bartram  was  succeeded  bv  his  son  William,  also 
a  distinguished  botanist,  and  it  was  during  his  ownership 
of  the  place  that  the  ornithologist,  Alexander  Wilson, 
newly  come  from  Scotland,  became  a  frequent  visitor  at 
the  Bartram  home. 

After  William  Bartram's  death  the  oardens  were  con- 
ducted  by  Colonel  Carr,  his  son-in-law.  In  the  early 
forties  Andrew  Eastwick,  who  had  recently  come  back 
from  an  extended  stay  in  Russia  where  he  had  been  em- 
ployed to  build  railroads,  bought  the  estate,  and  in  1851 
built  a  large  mansion  in  another  part  of  the  grounds.  In 
1893  the  City  acquired  the  old  house  and  a  portion  of  the 
grounds,  long  since  abandoned  as  a  place  of  residence  and 
thickly  overgrown,  and  in  1897  acquired  the  remainder, 
making  the  estate  into  a  park.  The  Bartram  descendants 
have  furnished  the  house  and  kept  it  in  admirable  condition. 


WHITBY  HALL 

KINGSESSING,  WEST  PHILADELPHIA 
COULTAS— GRAY— THOMAS 


F  all  the  Georgian  houses  in  the 
Philadelphia  neighbourhood  none  has 
more  striking  individuality,  none 
is  of  purer  architectural  type  than 
Whitby  Hall.  Of  all  the  Colonial 
homes  in  the  same  vicinage,  none 
has  richer  memories  of  a  vigor- 
ous and  engaging  personality  among  its  early  mas- 
ters; none  has  a  closer  bond  with  the  picturesque  social 
life  of  a  period  of  robust  and  ingenuous  manners  and 
morals.  It  is  a  house  on  which  the  individuality  of  its  first 
inmates  is  indelibly  impressed.  Its  very  name  links  it 
with  the  old  Yorkshire  home  of  the  many-sided  man  who 
reared  it  and  dwelt  within  its  walls. 

On  this  plantation  James  Coultas,  merchant,  ship 
owner,  farmer,  mill  owner,  fox  hunter,  vestrj'^man,  soldier, 
judge,  High  Sheriff  of  Philadelphia  from  1755  to  1758, 
and  enthusiastic  promoter  of  all  philanthropic  and  public 
enterprises,  established  himself  in  1741.  Until  very  re- 
cently, the  house  stood  on  the  southern  brow  of  a  hill  rising 
from  the  banks  of  the  Ameasaka,  a  small  stream  that  issued 
at  this  point  from  the  seclusion  of  a  shady  combe  and 
flowed  out  into  a  broad,  peaceful  meadow  before  joining 
its  waters  with  Cobb's  Creek.  A  lane,  heavily  shaded  by 
giant  sycamores,  dipped  down  into  the  dale,  crossed  the 
Ameasaka  on  a  stone-arched  bridge,  and  climbed  the  hill 
past  \Vhitb3''s  gates.     This  road  connecting  the  Darby 

98 


, '    ■>      '•.■>'•.  ^. 


A      i        J   J  , 


)  J      'J'  J    J  > 


",   ■>■,■>  »  ■>■, 


WHITBY  HALL 


Road  with  the  Baltimore  and  West  Chester  Pikes  was 
once  called  Coultas's,  afterward  Gray's,  Lane. 

Now  the  march  of  city  extension  has  changed  the  face 
of  nature.  Gray's  Lane  exists  no  longer  at  this  point. 
Fifty-eighth  Street  has  been  cut  through  and  crosses  the 
ravine  on  a  filled  causeway  that  chokes  the  Ameasaka 
and  blocks  the  mouth  of  its  valley.  A  network  of  streets 
has  been  opened  where,  but  a  few  years  since,  were  open 
rolling  fields,  and  multitudes  of  jerry-built  houses  have 
sprung  up  round  about  so  that  Whitby,  nestling  among 
its  great  spreading  trees,  a  proud  and  venerable  land- 
mark of  braver  days,  surrounded  by  the  brummagem, 
pinchbeck  growth  of  a  sordid  age,  must  now  be  described 
as  located  at  Fifty-eighth  Street  and  Florence  Avenue. 

Colonel  Coultas  occupied  the  house  he  found  there, 
making  little  change  until  1754,  when  he  added  the  beau- 
tiful and  stately  western  end  with  its  high-pitched  roof, 
the  gables  facing  south  and  north  with  quaint  oval  win- 
dows to  light  the  cockloft.  The  walls,  not  on  one  side 
only,  as  is  often  the  case,  but  all  the  way  round,  are  built 
of  carefully  squared  and  dressed  native  grey  stone.  On 
the  south  front  is  a  flag-paved  piazza,  and  around  the 
western  and  northern  sides  runs  a  penthouse  with  grace- 
fully coved  cornice.  On  the  north  front  is  a  tow^er-like 
projection  in  which  the  stairway  ascends  with  broad  land- 
ings. The  low  doorway  in  this  tower  has  always  been 
used  on  occasions  of  large  gatherings  at  Whitby,  whether 
grave  or  gay,  because  it  admits  to  the  wide  hall  running 
clear  through  the  western  wing,  giving  admittance  to  the 
large  rooms  on  either  side. 

The  doorway  and  windows  in  the  tower  are  all  sur- 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   nilLADELPIlIA 


rounded  witli  brick  trims,  which  give  both  variety  and 
distinction  against  the  grey  stone  walls.  It  may  be  re- 
marked that  this  is  an  architectural  treatment  not  often 
met  with  near  Philadelphia.  In  the  top  of  the  pediment 
with  its  dentilled  cornice,  a  bull's-eye  light,  also  surrounded 
with  brick  trim,  is  of  particular  interest  because  it  was 
a  porthole  glass  from  one  of  Colonel  Coultas's  favourite 
ships,  and  was  set  there  because  of  a  cherished  sentiment. 
On  the  peak  and  corners  of  the  tower  pediment  three  urns 
add  a  note  of  state. 

All  the  woodwork  and  sundry  embellishments  of  the 
1754  addition  were  fetched  overseas  in  Colonel  Coultas's 
ships.  The  pilasters  and  cornices  in  the  hall  and  the 
spindles  of  the  banisters  are  exceptionally  fine.  Rosettes 
are  carved  in  the  dogears  of  the  door  trims,  and  the 
cheeks  and  soffits  of  the  jambs  are  set  with  bevel-flush 
panels.  In  the  parlour  the  fireplace  opening  is  faced 
with  black  marble  brought  from  Scotland,  while  the  carv- 
ing of  the  overmantel  and  the  panelling  are  unsurpassed 
for  either  execution  or  design.  The  central  panel  above 
the  fireplace  is  three  feet  wide  and  nearly  six  feet  long, 
and  not  a  joint  can  be  discovered  in  it.  Below  it  is  a 
band  of  exquisitely  wrought  floriated  carving  in  high 
relief.  Although  it  is  possible  to  find  more  elaborate 
woodwork,  it  is  rarely  that  one  meets  with  a  degree  of 
elaboration  tempered  with  such  dignified  restraint  and 
consummate  good  taste. 

In  1842  the  then  owners  of  Whitby  Hall,  conceiving 
that  the  oldest  part  of  the  house  had  fallen  into  irrep- 
arable decay,  demolished  it  and  built  the  present  eastern 
wing  with  scrupulous  care  that  it  should  match  in  style 

100 


,     »   »  »      ». 

»  >  >     9        »  » 


WHITBY  HALL 


and  texture  the  structure  of  1754.  One  could  wish  that 
they  had  repaired  instead  of  building  anew,  but  their 
work  was  done  so  well  that  the  effect  of  the  whole  is  har- 
monious and  their  effort  is  witness  to  a  degree  of  archi- 
tectural intelligence  scarcely  to  be  looked  for  at  a  time 
when  such  matters  were  not  sufficiently  regarded.  The 
1754  end  of  the  house  is,  therefore,  the  only  old  part,  but 
it  is  the  most  conspicuous  portion  and  forms  the  subject 
of  the  illustrations  both  inside  and  out. 

On  the  south  front,  on  the  side  of  a  steep  terrace, 
a  doorway  opens  into  a  cavernous  tunnel  that  connects 
with  the  cellar  of  the  house.  Through  this  tunnel  fire- 
wood and  supplies  were  taken  in.  Once,  in  the  old  days, 
the  slaves  all  became  hilarious  and  continued  in  that  happy 
state  of  undue  exhilaration  so  long  that  an  explanation 
was  sought.  An  investigation  showed  that  a  cask  of 
wine  had  been  waylaid  in  its  passage  through  the  tun- 
nel to  the  cellar  and  that  the  blacks  were  taking  toll  of 
it  each  time  they  went  by.  East  of  the  house  are  the 
barns  and  slave  quarters  that  were  there  in  1741  and 
earlier — a  queer,  conglomerate  pile,  on  the  face  of  the 
slope,  built  of  quarry-faced  rubble,  and  of  architecture 
absolutely  nondescript.     It  might,  perhaps,  be  African. 

Born  near  Whitby  in  Yorkshire,  James  Coultas  re- 
ceived his  early  education  in  England,  emigrating  to  the 
Colony  of  Pennsylvania  at  some  time  prior  to  1732.  Of 
an  active  and  energetic  disposition,  and  endowed  with 
social  qualities  well  calculated  to  attach  numerous  friends, 
he  soon  atttracted  favourable  attention.  That  he  was  es- 
teemed by  his  associates  for  his  agreeable  manners  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  he  was  chosen  as  one  of  the  char- 

101 


COLOXIAl.   I10Mi:S   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

ter  members  of  the  "  Colony  in  Schuylkill,"  an  organisa- 
tion in  which,  since  its  beginning,  good-fellowship  has  been 
held  a  prime  requisite.  Of  his  early  pursuits  and  busi- 
ness activities,  we  know  little  save  that  he  was  supposedly 
busy  farming  his  plantation  in  Blockley  and  engaged  in 
various  private  enterprises  by  which  he  amassed  a  con- 
siderable fortune.  Of  his  family  aft'airs  we  know  that 
in  ^Jarch,  1735,  he  married  at  Christ  Church,  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Mary  and  Joseph  Ewen,  of  Germanto^vn. 
At  the  date  of  this  marriage,  jMrs.  Coultas's  mother 
(Joseph  Ewen  having  died  many  years  before)  had  long 
been  the  wife  of  George  Gray  of  Gray's  Ferry  and  thus 
came  about  the  close  connexion  between  the  Coultases 
and  Grays  that  apparently  led  James  Coultas  to  settle 
at  Whitby  Flail,  not  far  from  the  Grays,  and  later  led 
to  a  strengthening  of  the  family  tie  when  James  Coultas's 
niece,  jNIartha  Ibbetson,  became  the  spouse  of  his  wife's 
half-brother,  George  Gray. 

As  Colonel  Coultas  died  without  issue  it  was  to  this 
niece,  JNIartha  Ibbetson  Gray,  that  Whitby  Hall  passed 
by  inheritance  and  the  estate  has  descended  to  her  great- 
great-grandchildren,  the  present  occupants.  Whitby  is 
one  of  the  comparatively  few  estates  that  has  not  been 
alienated  from  the  family  of  the  first  owner. 

From  1744  to  1755,  Colonel  Coultas  held  the  lease  of 
the  Middle  Ferry  (where  Market  Street  bridge  now 
stands)  from  the  City  Council.  He  was  always  foremost 
in  any  movement  for  good  roads  or  the  developement  of 
natural  resources,  particularly  in  the  matter  of  making 
streams  navigable.  He  was  also,  in  1748,  one  of  the  cap- 
tains of  the  Associators,  a  battery  for  the  defence  of 

102 


,         ,     3'     J     J       3      5 


3    '    J    3  0  3    '     J 


SB 


d 


a 
> 

r 


WHITBY  HALL 


Philadelphia  from  French  insolence  to  which  fuller  allu- 
sion is  made  elsewhere.  In  1756,  when  Indian  incursions 
were  assuming  a  menacing  attitude,  he  was  chosen  lieu- 
tenant-colonel of  the  county  regiment.  In  the  half  cen- 
tury preceding  the  Revolution  no  citizen  was  more  en- 
terprising, energetic,  and  public-spirited  than  James 
Coultas,  and  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  and  the  con- 
fidence placed  in  him  are  shown  by  the  public  offices  he 
filled.  He  was  repeatedly  commissioned  justice  of  the 
peace,  from  1755  to  1758  he  was  High  Sheriff  of  the 
county,  and  in  1765  he  was  appointed  judge  of  the 
Orphans'  Court,  Quarter  Sessions,  and  Common  Pleas. 
Besides  these  offices  he  was  frequently  named  on  various 
commissions  where  the  public  interest  was  concerned. 

It  was  principally  owing  to  the  initiative  of  Colonel 
Coultas  that  the  first  steps  were  taken  to  render  the 
Schuylkill  navigable.  He  was  one  of  the  commissioners 
to  survey  that  stream,  and  first  succeeded  in  showing  that 
it  was  possible  for  large  boats  to  go  above  the  Falls.  He 
was  zealous  in  his  efforts  to  prove  what  he  confidently 
believed  could  be  done  and,  actuated  by  a  waggish  hu- 
mour, adopted  the  following  artifice  to  gain  public  atten- 
tion and  interest  and  impress  the  public  mind.  In  the 
Pennsylvania  Gazette  of  November  1,  1764,  appeared  the 
following  advertisement ; 

This  is  to  give  Notice  that  James  Coultas,  Esq.,  one  of  the 
Commissioners  for  clearing  Schuylkill,  hath  this  Day  made  a  Bett 
of  One  Hundred  Pounds  current  Money  of  Pennsylvania,  with 
Captain  Oswald  Eve,  that  he,  the  said  James  Coultas,  will,  on 
Saturday  the  3d  of  November  inst.,  at  Ten  o'Clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, take  up  two  Flat  Loads  of  Hay  from  the  lower  Part  of  the 

103 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

Big  Falls  in  the  said  river  Schuylkill  to  the  Ferry  WharfF,  ad- 
joining the  Land  of  the  Reverend  William  Smith,  in  30  Minutes 
from  the  Time  the  Word  is  given  to  Pull  away.  If  the  Weather 
that  Day  should  prove  bad,  it  ^vill  be  deferred  to  the  Monday 
following,  the  same  Time  of  Day.  As  the  clearing  and  making 
Rivers  navigable,  must  be  of  the  greatest  Advantage  of  the  Com- 
munity in  general,  and  raise  the  Value  of  their  Lands  and  lower 
tlie  Price  of  Firewood  and  Timber  in  the  City,  it  is  desired 
that  all  Persons  who  have  the  good  of  their  Country  at  Heart 
will  give  their  Attendance,  as  it  must  be  more  laudable  than  to 
spend  their  Time  and  Money  to  go  and  see  Horse  racing,  the 
Consequence  of  which  is  the  Corruption  of  Youth,  being  an  En- 
couragement to  Vice  and  Idleness. 

James  Coultas. 

A  few  days  afterward  the  following  appeared  in  the 
newspaper : 

This  is  to  acquaint  the  Public  that,  agreeable  to  the  Notice 
given  by  me,  I  did,  on  Saturday,  the  3d  Day  of  this  inst.  take 
up  the  Great  Falls  on  Schuylkill,  to  the  Ferry  Wharff  two  Flats, 
with  4323  Pounds  of  Hay,  in  21  minutes  from  the  Word  given 
Pull  away,  under  the  Disadvantage  of  the  River  having  less  Water 
than  for  severall  Years  past,  owing  to  the  dry  Season.  Great 
Numbers  attended,  and  were  highly  pleased  with  the  Performance. 
And  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  all  Persons  who  have  Lands  adjoining 
the  said  River,  will  further  contribute  to  enable  the  Commis- 
sioners to  make  it  further  useful,  by  clearing  other  Obstructions, 
as  what  is  already  done  hath  raised  the  Price  of  Lands.  I  must 
now  beg  to  be  excused  for  my  inserting  in  my  former  Advertise- 
ment a  Bctt  laid  of  100  Pounds  with  Captain  Oswald  Eve;  I  be- 
fore the  Performance  acquainted  all  my  Friends  there  was  no 
Wager  laid,  but  the  name  of  that  drew  there  the  greater  number 
of  Spectators.  James  Coultas. 

104 


WHITBY   HALL 


Shortly  after  this  episode  we  find  him  pushing  another 
public  improvement  in  the  beneficent  role  of  road-maker. 
The  newspaper  advertisement  of  December  13,  1764,  tells 
its  own  story: 

Whereas  Good  Roads  are  of  the  gi-eatest  Use  and  Benefit 
to  the  Inhabitants,  both  as  to  Profit  and  Pleasure;  and  altho'  the 
Legislature  of  this  Province  hath  taken  much  Pains  to  make 
Laws  for  the  Amendment  of  the  Highways,  yet  they  do  not  seem 
to  answer  for  the  end  thereby  intended, 

I  do  therefore  humbly  propose  to  undertake  the  Amendment 
of  the  Road  from  the  first  Hill  to  the  Westward  of  the  Lower 
Ferry  on  Schuylkill  to  the  Borough  of  Chester,  Deemed  the  Dis- 
tance of  about  eleven  Miles,  making  Stone  Bridges  over  all  the 
Runs  and  Hollows  in  the  said  Road,  if  Money  to  defray  the  Ex- 
pense of  the  same  can  be  raised  by  Subscription  from  the  Inhabi- 
tants, Travellers,  County  Commissioners,  and  the  Overseers  of 
the  Highways.  I  have  given  Two  Thousand  Pounds  Security 
to  the  Treasurers  of  the  Counties  of  Philadelphia  and  Chester,  and 
their  Successors  that  the  Money  so  raised  shall  be  expended  for 
the  aforesaid  Use,  and  no  other  whatsoever. 

James  Coultas. 

That  he  was  conscientiously  rigorous  in  the  discharge 
of  his  official  duties  may  be  gathered  from  the  following 
entry  in  an  old  account  book  of  the  Overseers  of  the  Poor, 
for  the  year  1758: 

Nov.  9th.  By  cash  of  James  Coultas  late  Sheriff,  being  a 
fine  paid  by  Loughlane  McClane  for  kissing  of  Osborn's  wife, 
after  his  commissions  and  writing  bond  were  deducted,  £2-1,  5s. 

When  such  a  strenuous  man  as  Colonel  Coultas  was 
sheriff,  the  kissing  of  other  men's  wives  was  apparently 
a  very  expensive  diversion. 

105 


COLONIAL  HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


111  1750,  Colonel  Coultas,  among  his  other  interests, 
owiied  the  large  sawmill  on  Cobb's  Creek  north  of  the 
Blue  Bell  Inn,  and  a  few  years  later,  in  the  same  neigh- 
bourhood, we  see  him  actively  instrumental  in  the  erec- 
tion of  the  Church  of  St.  James,  at  Kingsessing,  a  fine 
specimen  of  English  masonry  and  highly  creditable  to 
his  taste.     It  was  he  who  laid  the  cornerstone  in  1762. 

Colonel  Coultas  rode  to  hounds  and  entered  into  the 
wonted  diversions  of  his  day  with  just  as  much  zest  as 
he  displayed  in  quitting  himself  of  the  more  serious  busi- 
nesses of  public  and  private  life,  and  was  all  the  better 
for  it.  Jacob  Hiltzheimer,  that  bibulous,  gossipy,  garru- 
lous old  diarist  who  has  left  us  such  charming  pictures  of 
the  gayer  side  of  Philadelphia  life  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, tells  us  that  on  December  27,  1765,  he  set  off  in  the 

morning  at  five  o'clock,  with  Thomas  Mifflin,  Sam  Miles,  Jacob 
Hollingsworth  and  young  Rudolph  from  my  house;  proceeded  to 
Darby  to  meet  the  other  gentlemen  hunters ;  from  there  to  Captain 
Coultas's  house,  and  to  the  woods.  About  thirty-five  gentlemen 
attended  with  thirty  dogs  but  no  fox  was  secured. 

Despite  the  bountiful  breakfast  they  doubtless  had  at 
the  meet  at  Whitby  Hall,  it  was  discouraging  to  get  no  fox. 

Colonel  Coultas  hunted  not  only  with  the  men  who 
lived  immediately  around  him  but  was  also  a  member  of 
the  Gloucester  Fox  Hunting  Club.  Another  time-hon- 
oured and  still  more  ancient  convivial  club  of  which 
Colonel  Coultas  was  an  interested,  and  as  mentioned  be- 
fore a  charter,  member,  was  the  Schuylkill  Fishing  Com- 
pany, or,  as  it  was  then  known,  the  Colonj^  in  Schuylkill, 
to  become  at  a  later  date  the  State  in  Schuylkill. 

106 


STAIRWAY    AT    WHITBY    HALL 


WHITBY    HALL     (.SOUTH    FHONT) 
Showing  eastern  wing  thut  replaced  original  house  built  in  first  half  eighteenth  eenlury 


WHITBY  HALL 


James  Coultas  died  in  the  latter  part  of  January,  1768, 
after  rendering  signal  benefits  to  the  neighbourhood  of 
Philadelphia  that  cannot  be  too  higlily  rated,  and  serv- 
ing the  city  "  both  as  an  official  and  private  citizen  with 
zeal,  integrity,  and  intelligence."  His  widow  and  her 
half-brother,  George  Gray,  were  the  executors  of  his  es- 
tate, and  we  get  a  living  touch  of  the  humbler  side  of  life 
at  Whitby  from  part  of  the  advertisement  announcing 
the  sale  of  his  effects: 

N.B.  To  be  sold  at  private  sale  6  Negroes,  viz.  a  Negroe 
man,  a  cooper  by  trade,  a  very  good  workman;  liis  wife,  a  very 
good  house  wench,  with  one  female  child,  two  years  old ;  one  other 
Negroe  woman,  a  good  house  and  dairy  maid;  likewise  two  twins, 
a  boy  and  Girl,  ten  years  old,  smart  lively  children. 

From  the  Grays,  Whitby  passed  by  inheritance  to  the 
Thomases  who  had  extensive  family  connexions  in  Mary- 
land. There  is  a  tradition  that  when  a  law  was  enacted  in 
Pennsylvania  freeing  slaves  who  were  here  for  six  months, 
a  relay  would  be  kept  at  Whitby  for  somewhat  less  than 
that  period,  then  sent  back  to  Maryland,  their  places  being 
taken  by  a  fresh  relay  from  below  Mason  and  Dixon's 
Line. '  Thus,  bj^  a  series  of  black  relays,  Whitby  was  always 
worked  by  slave  labour.  Whether  there  were  any  "  smart 
lively  children,  ten  j^ears  old,"  among  them  we  are  not  told. 

Disappointmg  as  it  may  seem,  no  ghosts  haunt  Whitby 
Hall.  The  explanation  of  this  lack  appears  to  be  that 
all  the  occupants  have  spent  such  exemplary  lives  and  tar- 
ried till  such  a  ripe  old  age  that  they  were  perfectly  ready 
to  depart  when  the  time  came  for  them  to  pass  on  and 
join  the  great  throng  of  those  who  have  gone  before. 


THE  SOLITUDE 

BLOCKLEY  TOWNSHIP,  FAIIIMOUNT  PARK 
PENN 


OLITUDE  was  a  name  not  only  be- 
fitting the  former  character  of  the 
place  but  also  according  well  with 
the  recluse  mood  of  its  builder,  John 
Penn,  who  went  thither  to  escape  the 
vexings  of  a  perverse  and  naughty 
world. 

John  Penn,  "  the  poet,"  was  a  grandson  of  the  Founder 
and  a  son  of  Thomas  Penn  and  Lady  Juliana  Fermor, 
daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Pomfret.  He  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1760,  and  proceeded  a  Master  of  Arts  from  the 
University  of  Cambridge  in  1779.  A  scholarly  man,  he 
travelled  extensively  in  Europe  and  became  a  liberal 
jDatron  of  art,  something  of  a  poet,  and  an  idealist. 

Nervous,  near-sighted,  of  an  ardent  temperament, 
he  was  inclined  to  be  an  enthusiastic  American.  He  came 
over  to  look  after  the  Proprietary  interests  in  Pennsyl- 
vania in  1783  and  lived  at  first  in  Philadelphia  at  Sixth 
and  ^larket  Streets.  He  soon  discovered,  however,  that 
the  State  was  not  disposed  to  honour  his  claims,  made  un- 
der hereditary  rights,  and  so  decided  to  remain  an  Eng- 
lishman, concluding  that  the  people  of  this  country  were 
not  lovers  of  justice. 

He  lived  here  for  four  years,  nevertheless,  and  pur- 
chased for  six  hundred  pounds  fifteen  acres  of  the  high, 
west  bank  of  the  Schuylkill  River  where  the  Zoological 
Ciardcns  now  are.     Here,  in  1785,  he  erected  his  two- 

108 


THE   SOLITUDE 


storey  box  which  he  called  the  "  Solitude  "  after  a  lodge 
belonging  to  the  Duke  of  Wiirtemburg. 

The  house  was  literally  a  box,  foursquare,  twenty-six 
feet  in  each  direction.  Extending  entireh'^  across  the 
Schujdkill  front  was  a  large  parlour  from  whose  windows, 
opening  on  a  portico,  there  was  a  fine  view  both  up  and 
down  the  river.  From  here  Penn  could  see  the  ramparts 
on  the  once-wooded  Fairmount  on  the  farther  shore,  the 
site  of  the  British  entrenchments  when  Sir  William  Howe 
was  in  the  cit^^  All  the  space  on  the  first  floor  not  occu- 
pied by  the  parlour  is  given  over  to  a  hall,  nine  feet  wide, 
extending  across  the  whole  house.  In  the  southwest  cor- 
ner a  stairway,  with  hand- wrought  iron  railing,  rises  to  the 
second  floor.  In  this  storey  is  the  library,  a  room  about 
fifteen  feet  square,  with  bookcases  built  into  the  walls. 
On  the  shelves  were  about  six  hundred  volumes,  in  which 
number  the  classics  and  English  poets  were  largely  rep- 
resented. To  the  north  of  the  library  is  a  small  bed- 
room connecting  with  another  bedroom  in  the  centre  of 
the  house.  In  his  own  room  was  an  alcove  for  his  hours 
of  rest  and  a  secret  door  by  which  he  shut  himself  from 
intrusive  friends.  On  the  third  floor  are  several  more 
bedrooms  and  the  roof  rises  in  a  hip  broken  by  two  dor- 
mers. The  cellars  are  deep  and  roomy  for  wine,  and 
an  underground  passage  communicates  with  the  kitchen 
built  separately  about  twenty-five  feet  distant  from  the 
rest  of  the  house.  Altogether  Solitude  made  a  most 
comfortable  and  convenient  establishment  for  a  bachelor 
of  quiet  tastes. 

John  Penn  loved  solitude  and  spent  days  in  reading 
his  own  poems,  sitting  in  his  sunny  sitting-room,  dreaming 

109 


C()L()\TAT>   HOMES   OF   rillLADELPIIIA 

the  summer  days  away  in  the  companionship  of  Dante, 
Chaucer,  Petrarch,  Tasso,  and  Anacreon.  The  stucco 
work  on  ceihng-  and  cornice  in  this  room  is  very  beautiful 
and  was  brought  from  England.  The  chair  rail  and  sub- 
base  are  of  carved  wood.  A  poem  published  in  London 
in  1801  gives  a  view  of  "  The  Solitude  "  with  a  picture 
showing  a  favourite  wiiite  dove  flying  close  along  the 
lawn,  whose  death  his  verses  deplore: 

Thine,  oft  I  said  (nor  hoped  so  near  thy  end), 
Are  all  things  round,  the  grove,  the  cloudless  sky; 
While  cheers  the  enlivening  sky,  sport  and  enjoy; 
Thine  are  yon  oaks  that  o'er  the  stream  impend, 
And  rocks  that,  as  I  stray  with  musing  eye, 
Or  wander  from  the  shed,  can  never  cloy. 

It  is  said  that  John  Penn  planted  every  tree  about 
the  house  and  there  are  few  primeval  ones  remaining. 
He  had  pleasant  neighbours.  In  fine  weather  the  good 
fellows  of  the  "  State  in  Schuylkill  "  met  at  the  "  Castle  " 
on  the  Warner  farm  just  north  of  him  on  the  other  side 
of  the  point  where  the  Girard  Avenue  bridge  now  touches 
the  western  shore.  His  cousin,  Governour  John  Penn, 
lived  at  "  Lansdowne  "  just  above  and  farther  on  was 
Judge  Peters  at  Belmont. 

He  seems  to  have  been  friendly  with  these  and  with 
most  of  the  best  citizens,  gay  parties  coming  to  his  place 
in  boats  to  spend  the  week-ends.  Washing-ton  spent  the 
day  with  him  during  the  sitting  of  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention in  Philadelphia. 

Here  he  lived  in  sweet  peace  until  1788,  when  he  re- 
turned to  England  and  suddenly  developed  an  interest 

no 


THE   SOLITUDE 


in  worldly  affairs,  erecting  a  handsome  residence  at  Stoke. 
He  became  sheriff  of  Bucks  in  1798,  member  of  Parlia- 
ment in  1802,  and  was  the  royal  Governour  of  the  island 
of  Portland  in  Dorset  from  1805  for  many  years.  Cam- 
bridge made  him  an  LL.D.  in  1811,  and  he  also  became 
lieutenant  colonel  of  the  First  Troop  of  the  First  Regi- 
ment Royal  Bucks  Yeomanry. 

While  he  courted  only  the  muses  in  the  wilderness  of 
the  Schujdkill,  he  formed  in  his  declining  years  the 
"  Outinian  Society,"  whose  purpose  it  was  to  encourage 
young  men  and  young  women  to  enter  wedlock.  This 
matrimonial  society  sent  out  a  blank  to  be  filled  in  under 
fifty-one  different  headings  describing  the  eligible  parties. 
It  was  called  "  The  True  Friend,  or  a  Table  showing  the 
Exact  Situation  in  Life  and  Personal  Qualities  of  Known 
Marriageable  Ladies."  Finally,  Mr.  Penn's  social  be- 
nevolence shifted  to  the  promotion  of  an  invention  of 
lamp  labels  for  street  corners  and  an  improved  breakfast 
waiter.     He  was  indeed  a  many-sided  man. 

Despite  his  efforts  to  land  others  in  the  holy  estate 
of  matrimony,  he  very  inconsistently  died  unmarried,  June 
21,  1834,  and  the  Solitude  passed  to  Granville  Penn, 
his  youngest  brother,  who  held  it  for  ten  years.  It  then 
descended  to  Granville  John  Penn,  a  nephew,  who  died  in 
March,  1867.  Granville  John  Penn  was  a  great  grand- 
son of  the  Founder  and  the  last  private  owner  of  the 
Solitude. 

He  came  to  Philadelphia  in  1851,  a  dapper  and  well- 
preserved  middle-aged  gentleman.  The  city  made  much 
of  him,  he  was  lionised  by  Councils,  the  Historical  Society, 
and  bv  all  who  could  trace  ancestral  connexion  with  the 

111 


COLONIAL  IIOMKS  OF  PHILADELPHLV 

Penns  in  former  years.  In  return  for  these  attentions 
he  gave  a  grand  "  Fete  Chanipetre  "  at  the  Solitude,  with 
lavishly  furnished  marquees  and  a  collation  to  which  the 
quality  of  the  city  was  invited.  This  was  the  last  time 
a  Penn  was  at  the  Solitude,  and  it  was  the  last  property 
here  of  a  family  that  once  owned  the  State.  Without 
a  tenant  for  some  years  it  passed  into  the  ownership  of 
Fairmount  Park  in  1867  and  is  now  well  preserved  in 
its  original  state  as  the  administration  building  of  the 
Zoological  Society. 


CLUNIE— MOUNT  PLEASANT 

IN  THE  NORTHERN  LIBERTIES,  FAIRMOUNT  PARK 

MACPHERSON— ARNOLD— SHIPPEN— WILLIAMS 


OUNT  PLEASANT  is  fitly  so 
named.  Surely  no  pleasanter  place 
for  habitation  could  be  found  than 
the  spot  where  this  noble  eighteenth 
century  house  rears  its  balustraded 
roof  above  a  sea  of  surrounding 
greenery  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Schuylkill  not  far  north  of  the  Girard  Avenue  bridge. 
The  site  commands  a  broad  view  upstream  and  down  and 
over  the  wooded  slopes  of  the  farther  shore.  Though  in 
summer  the  density  of  the  foliage  somewhat  obscures  the 
prospect,  at  other  seasons,  when  the  trees  are  less  fully 
clad,  the  eye  sweeps  the  valley  for  miles. 

Then  it  is,  as  the  once  elegant  countryseats  are  seen 
crowning  every  hill,  that  one  feels  how  ample  and  almost 
princely  must  have  been  the  manner  of  life  that  prevailed 
there  in  the  long  past  days  when  the  young  city  was  still 
miles  distant  from  these  sylvan  fastnesses.  In  Virginia 
the  James  River,  in  all  the  pride  of  the  manorial  estates 
that  lined  its  banks,  could  not  have  surpassed  the  loveli- 
ness and  charm  of  the  Schuylkill  winding  among  rolling 
highlands  on  whose  summits  spacious  homes  of  comely 
dignity  sheltered  some  of  the  most  distinguished  citizens 
of  the  metropolis  of  the  Colonies. 

Society  was  gayer,  more  polished,  and  wealthier  in 
Philadelphia  than  an\^vhere  else  this  side  of  the  Atlantic 
and  the  affluence  and  culture  of  the  people  were  reflected 
in  the  houses  in  which  they  chose  to  spend  their  summers 

8  113 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  PIIILADELPHLV 


or  sometimes  to  live  the  year  round.  Of  no  locality  was 
this  truer  than  on  both  the  east  and  west  shores  of  the 
Sehuylkill,  whose  waters  imparted  an  agreeable  element 
of  life  to  the  scene  and  at  the  same  time  supplied  the  best 
of  fish  to  grace  tlie  boards  of  gentry  who  were  notoriously 
a(l(h"cted  to  the  j^leasures  of  the  table. 

In  one  of  the  choicest  spots  of  this  fair  paradise  of 
peace  and  plenty,  Captain  John  ^lacpherson  bought  land 
in  September,  17()1,  and  set  to  building  a  great  house, 
of  almost  baronial  aspect,  that  commands  consideration 
by  its  architectural  presence  alone,  quite  apart  from  the 
rich  historic  glamour  that  hangs  over  it.  From  the  west 
or  river  front  of  the  house,  the  land  falls  away  rapidly 
so  that  the  driveway  approach  is  brought  up  to  the  east 
front.  East  and  west  fronts  alike  are  of  imposing  mien. 
A  high  foundation  of  carefully  squared  stones  is  pierced 
by  iron-barred  basement  "windows  set  in  stone  frames. 
Above  this  massive  grisly  base,  the  thick  stone  walls  are 
coated  with  yellow-grey  rough-cast.  Heavy  quoins  of 
brick  at  the  corners  and,  at  the  north  and  south  ends  of 
the  building,  great  quadruple  chimneys  joined  into  one 
at  the  top  by  arches,  give  the  structure  an  air  of  more 
than  usual  solidity. 

A  broad  flight  of  stone  steps,  their  iron  balustrades 
overgrown  with  a  bushy  mass  of  honeysuckle,  leads  up  to 
a  doorway  of  generous  breadth.  The  pillars  at  each  side 
of  tlie  door  and  tlie  superimposed  pediment,  the  ornate 
Palladian  window  immediately  above  on  the  second  floor 
and,  a])()ve  tliat  again,  the  corniced  pediment  springing 
from  the  eaves,  all  contribute  to  set  a  stamp  of  courtly 
distinction   upon   the   pile,   a   distinction   for  which   only 

114 


D     >,      3      3     3  5 

3      '    -    '      »        3       3 


'■,  i.>^  r  >,''r<i  '^i  i/>\ 


CLUNIE— MOUNT  PLEASANT 


Georgian  architecture  has  found  utterance.  Above  the 
second  floor  the  hipped  roof  springs,  pierced  east  and 
west  by  two  graceful  dormers  and  crowned  by  a  well- 
turned  balustrade  that  traverses  nearly  the  whole  dis- 
tance between  the  chimneys.  The  fan-light  over  the  door 
has  remarkably  heavy  fluted  mullions  and  all  the  detail 
throughout  the  house,  though  highly  wrought,  is  heavy 
as  it  was  wont  to  be  at  the  precise  period  when  Mount 
Pleasant  was  erected. 

If  one  were  asked,  however,  to  sav  what  it  is  before 
all  else  that  gives  a  peculiarly  striking  appearance  to 
Mount  Pleasant,  the  answer  would  straightway  indicate 
the  two  flanking  outbuildings,  set  thirty  or  forty  feet 
distant  from  the  northeast  and  southeast  corners  of  the 
house.  Though  designed  for  servants'  quarters  and 
various  domestic  offices,  these  two-storey  hipped-roof 
buildings  are  made  of  the  same  material  and  finished  with 
the  same  care  as  the  rest  of  the  house.  Without  them 
Mount  Pleasant  would  be  only  an  unusually  handsome 
Georgian  country  house;  with  them  it  at  once  takes  on 
the  manorial  port  of  one  of  the  old  Virginia  mansions. 
Beyond  the  circle  before  the  house,  where  grows  a  mighty 
spreading  sycamore,  and  at  some  distance  from  either  side 
of  the  road,  are  two  barns.  The  grouping  is  impressive 
and  eloquent  of  the  state  maintained  by  the  Colonial  oc- 
cupants of  this  truly  noble  seat. 

The  history  of  Mount  Pleasant  is  not  less  engaging 
than  its  aspect.  Captain  Macpherson  is  one  of  the  most 
picturesque  personages  to  be  met  with  in  the  picturesque 
pages  of  Colonial  annals.  Sprung  from  the  JNIacpher- 
sons  of  Clunie  in   Scotland,  he  left  his  native  country 

115 


COLOMAT.   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

and  followed  the  sea,  coming  out  to  America  at  what  time 
is  not  exactly  known.  lie  first  came  into  prominent  no- 
tice in  Philadelphia,  however,  in  1757,  "when  he  took 
command  of  the  privateer  Britannia.  Privateering,  or 
licensed  piracy,  to  give  it  its  unvarnished  title,  was  apt 
to  land  them  that  practised  it  in  all  manner  of  troubles. 
Captain  iSIacpherson  "was  no  exception  and  met  with  his 
full  tale  of  thrilling  deeds  and  bloody  fights,  in  the  per- 
formance of  which  he  lost  an  arm.  After  numerous  en- 
gagements "with  the  Spanish  and  French,  from  whom  he 
made  not  a  few^  brilliant  and  profitable  captures,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  amassing  a  goodly  fortune  and  came  back  to 
rest  from  his  seafaring,  a  rich  man  for  those  days. 

With  a  part  of  the  spoils  of  his  privateering  he  built 
Clunie  as  he  at  first  named  his  estate  after  the  seat  of 
his  clan.  The  name  Clunie  he  subsequently  changed, 
however,  to  Mount  Pleasant,  the  style  it  still  bears.  Here 
he  lived  in  a  manner  becoming  a  man  of  his  substance, 
exercising  a  hospitality  that  won  the  commendation  of 
John  Adams,  who  never  failed  to  chronicle  the  good 
things  he  had  to  eat  and  drink.  A  man  of  intense  ac- 
tivity, INIacpherson  busied  himself  by  inventing  various 
contrivances,  one  of  which  was  a  device  for  moving  brick 
or  stone  houses  bodily — a  piece  of  mechanism  that  worked 
successfully. 

Another  fruit  of  his  ingenuity  was  an  "  elegant  cot 
which  bids  defiance  to  everything  but  Omnipotence."  The 
occupant,  according  to  the  captain's  assertion,  was  w^ar- 
ranted  immunity  from  flies,  mosquitoes  or  any  other  en- 
tomological irritant.  In  his  later  years  he  gave  lectures 
on  astronomy,  published  pa])ers  on  moral  philosophy  and 

116 


PAHLOIU    AT    MOUNT    PLEASANT 


CLUNIE— MOUNT  PLEASANT 


issued  the  first  city  directory  (1785)  wherein  he  took  oc- 
casion to  express  his  personal  pique  at  those  that  proved 
uncommunicative  to  his  canvassing  queries.  Under  the 
"  I's  "  we  find  "  I  won't  tell  you,"  or  "  I  don't  care!  Put 
down  what  you  please,"  and  so  on  with  the  numbers  of 
the  houses,  while  under  the  "  C's  "  there  is  a  whole  regi- 
ment of  "  Cross  women  "  dotted  about  the  city  so  that  we 
might  fancy  Philadelphia  a  very  unsafe  place  to  live  in. 

Unfortunate  in  some  of  his  financial  affairs  and  wearv- 
ing  of  the  seclusion  of  Mount  Pleasant,  as  well  as  long- 
ing again  for  the  smell  of  the  sea,  this  gallant  but  eccen- 
tric gentleman,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  applied 
to  the  Marine  Commission  of  the  Continental  Congress 
for  the  chief  command  of  the  navy,  a  position  for  which 
his  past  achievements  bespoke  favourable  consideration. 
Despite  his  importunities  to  gain  his  point,  however,  the 
honour  was  given  to  another. 

After  Macpherson  left  Mount  Pleasant  he  leased  it 
to  Don  Juan  de  Merailles,  the  Spanish  ambassador,  and 
finally,  in  the  spring  of  1779,  sold  the  estate  to  General 
Benedict  Arnold,  who  gave  it  as  a  marriage  gift  to  his 
bride,  Peggy  Shippen.  Here  they  lived  much  of  the 
time  for  more  than  a  year  after  their  marriage  and  here 
they  gave  some  of  those  splendid  entertainments  that  in- 
creased the  cavilling  and  carping  of  the  general's  enemies 
and  creditors  when  his  personal  fortunes  were  sinking  into 
hopeless  embarrassment. 

Despite  Judge  Peters's  deep-seated  dislike  and  distrust 
and  his  accusation  that  Arnold  embezzled  the  money  with 
which  he  bought  Mount  Pleasant,  justice  demands  that 

117 


COLONIAL    HOMES   OF   rillLADELPHIA 

we  examine  his  case  fairly.  In  the  first  place,  the  posi- 
tion in  whit'li  lie  was  placed  as  military  administrator,  after 
the  British  evacuated  Philadelphia,  required  the  exercise 
of  the  utmost  patience  and  tact  in  order  to  avoid  clashes. 
Neither  of  these  qualities  did  Arnold  possess.  The  city 
was  a  hothed  of  bickering  and  contention  and  he  was  not 
fitted  by  temperament  to  handle  the  situation. 

He  was  nagged  at,  hectored  and  badgered  almost  be- 
yond endurance  by  meddlesome  people  who  must  needs 
interfere  even  in  his  love  affairs.  His  repeated  requests 
for  money  long  overdue  him  from  Congress  were  unavail- 
ing. When  he  set  out  to  see  Washington  about  resigning 
his  commission  and  settling  on  an  estate  in  Western  New 
York,  no  sooner  was  his  back  turned  than  General  Joseph 
Reed,  who  seems  to  have  pursued  him  with  the  \^ndictive 
malevolence  of  a  peevish  dyspeptic,  brought  a  tale  of 
charges  against  Iiim  that  could  not  be  substantiated  in 
the  trial  before  a  committee  of  Congress,  except  in  two 
trifling  matters.  General  Reed  then  moved  for  a  new  ex- 
amination and  the  matter  was  referred  to  another  Con- 
gressional committee  which  dodged  the  responsibility  and 
suggested  a  court  martial.  The  sitting  of  the  court  mar- 
tial was  deferred  again  and  again  at  the  request  of  his 
accusers  that  they  might  collect  evidence.  Finally  it  was 
held  and  exonerated  him,  but  as  a  sop  to  his  influential 
enemies  it  suggested  a  reprimand  from  Washington  for 
two  very  insignificant  matters,  the  utmost  that  could  be 
proved.  Washington's  reprimand  was  practically  a  let- 
ter of  recommendation. 

Nothing  can  ever  palliate  his  unfaithfulness  to  Wash- 

118 


)    '   '  ,  1  )       >    > 

>    ,    •       ,      '       i 


» 


9    6- 

E  c 

e  ^ 


c     C 


O 

s  ;:! 

O     K 


3      '^ 


a.  X 


CLUNIE— MOUNT  PLEASANT 


ington  and  his  gigantic  treachery  in  asking  an  important 
command  that  he  might  betray  it,  but  historic  justice  com- 
pels us  to  "  give  the  devil  his  due  "  and  admit  that  he  had 
much  provocation  for  the  discontent  and  resentment  that 
he  allowed  to  lead  him  at  last  to  the  blackness  of  villainy. 

After  Arnold's  attainder  and  the  confiscation  of  his 
property,  Mount  Pleasant  was  leased  to  Baron  Steuben, 
but  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  ever  lived  there,  as  his  duties 
took  him  to  the  South  at  that  very  time,  and  when  he 
returned  thence  the  estate  had  another  tenant.  Passing 
through  several  hands,  the  property  eventually  came  to 
General  Jonathan  Williams,  of  Boston,  the  Revolutionary 
worthy,  who  remained  there  and  his  family  after  him 
till  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  shortly  after 
which  period  Mount  Pleasant  and  all  the  surrounding  es- 
tates were  acquired  by  the  city  and  made  a  part  of  Fair- 
mount  Park. 

Knowing  thus  a  little  of  its  historj^  the  interior  of 
the  house,  where  personal  memories  seem  to  cling  more 
persistently,  can  be  better  appreciated.  A  spacious  hall- 
way as  wide  as  a  room  runs  through  the  house  from  east 
to  west.  In  summer,  if  the  doors  at  the  ends  are  open, 
delightful  prospects  open  up  in  either  direction.  The 
detail  of  classic  ornament  on  cornice,  pilaster,  and  door- 
trims  is  wonderfully  rich  and  remarkably  well  preserved. 
To  the  north  of  the  hall  is  the  great  drawing-room  run- 
ning the  full  depth  of  the  building,  with  windows  look- 
ing both  east  and  west.  In  the  middle  of  the  north  side 
is  a  full-throated  fireplace  above  which  is  an  elaborately 
wrought  overmantel,  in  whose  central  panel  one  instinc- 

11!) 


(OLOXJAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

tively  feels  that  a  canvas  from  the  brush  of  Gainsborough 
or  Kneller  ought  to  hang.  The  door-frames,  with  their 
heavily  moulded  pediments,  are  exceptional.  In  fact  all 
the  woodwork  both  downstairs  and  up  is  richer  in  elabora- 
tion of  detail  than  is  usual  in  our  Colonial  Georgian. 
East  of  the  dining-room  is  an  ell  extension  from  the  hall 
and  there  a  wide,  easy  staircase  with  a  balustrade  of  grace- 
fully turned  spindles  ascends  to  the  second  floor. 

From  the  moment  you  cross  the  threshold,  fancy  peo- 
ples the  rooms  with  a  shadowy  throng  of  those  that  once 
dwelt  there  or  came  beneath  the  hospitable  roof  when 
some  festive  occasion  drew  them  from  the  city  or  the 
neighbouring  seats.  There  stands  the  old  captain  in  a 
cocked  hat,  his  armless  sleeve  hanging  limp  at  his  side; 
here  a  courtly  personage  in  satin  breeches,  velvet  coat, 
and  powdered  periwig  treads  a  measure  with  a  dame  ar- 
rayed in  flowered  brocade,  wiio  nods  the  plumes  of  her 
turban  coquettishly  at  her  partner  in  the  minuet;  there 
goes  the  gallant  Spanish  Don  in  a  resplendent  uniform 
and  close  behind  him  follows  a  martial  figure  in  whose 
dour  comeliness  can  be  recognised  the  betrayer  of  his 
country's  trust.  All  these  and  many  more,  not  forgetting 
the  ebony-faced  and  liveried  lackeys,  discover  their  pres- 
ence to  our  fleeting  glimpses  and  only  disappear  entirely 
when  we  look  directly  at  them  to  be  assured  of  their 
reality.  They  all  form  a  part  of  this  old  house,  intangible 
and  elusive,  to  be  sure,  but  none  the  less  real. 

These  personal  memories  inwoven  "svith  material  fabric, 
like  all-permeating  ether,  are  the  very  soul  of  the  charm 
we    feel    in    old    buildings.     At    Mount    Pleasant,    how- 


3  3      >  1      5      )  > 

5  J      '    ,    '      >        1       5 

5  3  3)1  13 


3       3        ■   - 


3  3  33333333 


3  3         1  3      3. 


3        3      ,        3      ', 


'33  3'S^3**33 

'3'        3  3      3'       •  '     ,3'      ,     '     ,      ,       ,      , 

3  33333      3  3,3        3    3  3333> 


X 
> 


> 


H 

O 
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z 

o 


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s 

0 
Q 

z 

H 

13 

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> 
'i. 


CLUNIE— MOUNT  PLEASANT 


ever,  Arnold  is  more  than  a  mere  evanescent  memory,  so 
former  occupants  aver.  They  swear  they  have  seen  him 
glowering  malignly  at  them  and  have  distinctly  heard 
his  heavy  tread  resounding  in  the  halls. 

It  is  gratifying  to  say  that  Mount  Pleasant  has  fallen 
into  good  hands.  The  city  has  entrusted  the  property 
to  an  automobile  club,  "  La  Moviganta  Klubo,"  whose 
members  and  officers  have  spent  liberally  for  intelligent 
restorations  and  repairs.  A  competent  custodian  is  in 
charge  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  this  historic  house  will 
always  be  a  cherished  object  of  judicious  care. 


ORMISTON 


IN  THE  NORTHERN  LHJERTIES.  FAIRMOUNT  PARK 

GALLOWAY 


RMISTON,  on  the  verge  of  a  deep 
glen  that  separates  it  from  Laurel 
Hill,  is  a  square  rough-cast  building 
of  two  storeys  and  a  hipped  roof, 
substantial  and  comfortable  but  with- 
out much  architectural  pretension. 
Its  principal  charm  is  its  site  over- 
looking the  river  far  below.  There  are  broad  porches  on 
both  the  land  and  river  fronts,  and  in  the  davs  when  its 
condition  was  properly  kept  up,  it  must  have  been  a  de- 
lightful place  to  pass  the  summer  months. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  Colonial  period  it  was  the 
home  of  Joseph  Galloway,  an  eminent  lawyer  and  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  Loyalists.  He  w^as  born  at 
West  River  in  ^laryland,  in  1731,  but  came  to  Philadel- 
phia at  an  early  age.  In  1748  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Colony  in  Schuylkill.  While  still  a  young  man 
he  attained  great  distinction  in  the  law  and  was  held  an 
authority  in  all  matters  touching  real  estate.  He  was  the 
intimate  friend  of  Benjamin  Franklin  and  when  the  lat- 
ter went  to  England  in  1764  he  placed  his  valuable  papers 
and  letter  books  in  Galloway's  hands  for  safekeeping. 
In  1757  he  was  elected  to  the  Assembly,  and  from  1766 
to  1774  was  speaker  of  that  body,  being  usually  elected 
by  unanimous  vote.  In  175.3  he  married  Grace  Growdon, 
the  daughter  of  Laurence  Growdon,  of  Trevose. 

After  serving  in  the  Congress  of  1775  he  withdrew 
from  ])olitics.    Doctor  Franklin  then  sought  to  induce  him 

122 


ORMISTON 


to  espouse  the  cause  of  independence  but  he  could  not  con- 
scientiously do  so,  and  in  December,  1776,  joined  General 
Howe  and  accompanied  the  British  army.  During  the 
British  occupation  of  Philadelphia,  at  the  request  of 
General  Howe,  he  assumed  the  duties  of  Superintendent- 
General  of  Police  and  Superintendent  of  the  Port,  being 
assisted  by  his  friend  and  neighbour,  Samuel  Shoemaker. 

Because  of  his  outspokenness  and  unhesitating  action  in 
support  of  the  King,  his  name  has  been  loaded  with  oblo- 
quy, which  only  in  recent  years  has  somewhat  disappeared 
as  people  have  begun  to  realise  that  the  Loyalists  were  en- 
titled to  their  opinions  as  well  as  the  Whigs  and  as  much 
privileged  to  act  upon  their  convictions  in  what  was,  after 
all,  only  a  very  violent  political  struggle  between  English- 
men as  those  who  differed  from  them,  without  being  held 
up  to  the  execration  of  all  future  generations. 

In  speaking  of  the  Philadelphia  Loyalists  of  whom 
there  were  many,  Thomas  Allen  Glenn  says: 

•  family  traditions  of  loyalty  to  the  Crown  were  not  to  be  lightly 
thrown  aside.  The  position  of  the  Loyalists  of  Philadelphia  has 
never,  perhaps,  been  properly  presented.  They  were,  as  a  class, 
the  best  people  in  the  Province  and  the  descendants  of  those 
settlers  who,  by  hard  work  and  unceasing  effort  had  brought 
Philadelphia  to  be  the  chief  citj'  of  Great  Britain's  American 
Colonies.  They  were,  most  of  them,  people  of  wealth,  education, 
culture  and  refinement.  Many,  like  the  Rawles,  were  descended 
from  the  best  of  those  who,  in  Penn's  time,  had  planted  the 
Province.  Belonging  to  families  that  for  generations,  despite 
persecution,  at  times,  for  religious  belief,  had  continued  unswerv- 
ingly loyal  to  their  King,  they  hesitated  now  to  cut  themselves  loose 
from  an  authority  which  they  had  so  long  and  faithfully  obeyed, 

123 


COLONIAL    HOMES   OF   rillLADKLlMILV 


and  which,  taken  all  in  all,  had  treated  them  well.  They  had, 
indeed,  waxed  rich  and  prosperous  under  the  rule  of  King  George 
and  liis  predecessors,  and  the  great  principles  of  liberty  and  self- 
government  were  to  such  people  but  shadowy  phantoms  of  a 
dream.  Not  a  single  instant  did  they  believe  that  the  Conti- 
nental army  would  ultimately  conquer,  or  that  the  Continental 
Congress  would  achieve  aught  save  ruin  to  its  members.  The  Loyal- 
ists, or  "  Tories,"  as  their  enemies  called  them,  had  property  at 
stake  which  in  money  value  far  exceeded  that  of  those  engaged  in 
the  struggle  for  independence,  and  they  could  not  bring,  as  they 
thought,  irretrievable  ruin  upon  their  families,  their  kindred  and 
themselves.  It  was  not,  with  some  of  them,  that  they  were  Friends, 
or  Quakers,  for  many  of  that  belief  either  entered  the  Continental 
Army  or  else,  because  of  religious  scruples,  declined  to  take  part  on 
either  side,  but  they  felt  that  in  turning  their  backs  on  Washington 
and  the  cause  he  represented  they  were  doing  loyal  service  to  their 
King  and  country.  Had  the  American  Revolution  failed,  they  would 
have  been  praised  instead  of  scorned,  applauded  instead  of  hissed. 

After  the  British  evacuated  Philadelphia,  Galloway 
was  attainted  of  high  treason  and  his  estates  adjudged  con- 
fiscate. Mrs.  Galloway  in  order  to  protect  her  property  re- 
mained at  Ormiston  until  she  was  forcibly  ejected  by  the 
commissioners  in  charge  of  confiscated  estates.  In  this  con- 
nexion the  great  Charles  Wilson  Peale  does  not  appear  in 
an  amiable  light.  He  was  one  of  the  commissioners  and  he 
it  was  who  ran  jNIrs.  Galloway  out  by  the  shoulders,  forcing 
her  from  her  home  and  into  Benedict  Arnold's  coach — he 
was  then  a  near  neighbour  and  had  not  yet  fallen  into  dis- 
grace— which  was  waiting  at  the  door  to  convey  her  away. 

Ormiston  along  with  all  the  neighbouring  seats  is  now 
a  part  of  the  park  property,  and  is  used  by  the  family 
of  one  of  the  park  employees. 


LAUREL  HILL 

IN  THE  NORTHERN  LIBERTIES,  FAIRMOUNT  PARK 
SHUTE—RAWLE—PHYSICK— RANDOLPH 


ONSPICUOUS  among  the  seats 
that  line  the  east  bank  of  the  Schuyl- 
kill is  Laurel  Hill.  Separated  from 
Ormiston  by  a  deep-wooded  combe 
and  standing  on  a  high  bluff  over- 
looking the  river,  it  commands  an 
unexcelled  view  up  and  down  the 
banks  of  that  stream,  which  for  natural  beauty  has  few 
peers  and  for  the  social  distinction  of  the  dwellers 
along  ifs  shores  had  not  its  equal  in  the  Colonies.  In 
Colonial  times  and  for  long  afterwards,  until  the 
land  was  taken  for  park  purposes,  within  the  compass 
of  a  few  miles,  beside  its  waters  were  to  be  found  more 
plantations  belonging  to  folk  of  quality  and  substance 
than  in  any  like  neighbourhood.  Great  distances  sepa- 
rated many  of  the  Hudson  manors,  and  on  the  James 
a  like  state  of  comparative  isolation  was  not  uncommon. 
The  Schuylkill,  on  the  contrary,  combined  virgin  loveli- 
ness of  scenery  with  an  unsurpassed  opportunity  for  easy 
and  frequent  intercourse  with  the  most  agreeable  of 
neighbours  as  well  as  convenient  proximity  to  the  city. 

The  house  at  Laurel  Hill — the  name,  by  the  way,  is 
derived  from  the  luxuriant  growth  of  laurel  for  which  the 
bluffs  along  the  river  were  once  noted — though  not  as 
large  as  some  others  nearby,  is  a  striking  sample  of 
Georgian  architecture,  two  storeys  in  height  with  hipped 
roof.  The  walls  are  of  brick  painted  yellow  and  all  the 
woodwork  is  white.     The  main  entrance,  on  the  eastern 

125 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPIHA 

or  land  front,  is  through  a  spacious  classic  doorway  with 
flankini^  pilasters  and  a  i^ediment  above.  A  pediment 
likewise  si)rings  from  the  cornice  in  a  line  with  the  door- 
way pediment  and  this  repetition  of  the  motive  imparts 
a  dignified  emphasis  to  the  facade.  A  transverse  wing 
A\  ith  octagon  ends  at  the  northern  side  of  the  house  is 
characteristic  of  a  mimber  of  coimtr\^seats  erected  about 
the  same  period.  This  device  relieves  the  angularity  of 
the  exterior  and  gives  an  opportunity  to  make  an  apart- 
ment of  notable  elegance  within. 

Entering  the  door,  one  steps  at  once  into  a  long  gal- 
lery extending  across  the  front  of  the  house.  At  one  end 
is  a  small  room  containing  a  square  staircase,  while  at  the 
other  is  a  door  opening  into  the  great  drawing-room,  a 
chamber  of  truly  princely  dimensions  with  octagon  ends. 
A  handsome  fireplace  adorns  the  side  opposite  the  en- 
trance and,  over  against  it,  balancing  the  door  from  the 
gallery  is  a  door  into  the  dining-room.  The  interior  wood- 
work of  Laurel  Hill  is  admirably  wrought  and  in  good 
preservation. 

Joseph  Shute,  who  owned  large  tracts  of  land  close 
by,  built  Laurel  Hill  about  1748.  In  1760  Francis 
Rawle  bought  the  estate  for  his  summer  residence  and  it 
was  during  the  occupancy  of  the  Rawle  family  that  the 
place  began  to  figure  on  the  stage  of  history.  Francis 
Kawle,  born  in  Philadelphia  in  1729,  was  an  only  child 
and  inherited  an  ample  fortune  from  his  parents.  As  a 
young  man  he  made  the  "  Grand  Tour  "  of  Europe  as  a 
})art  of  liis  education  and,  after  travelling  extensively,  re- 
turned to  Ills  native  city.  He  Avas  a  broadly  educated, 
cultured  gentleman  of  wide  interests.     In  1756,  shortly 

12(! 


,   ',       3  3  ■> 


.SOLITUUK,    OX    THE    SCHUYLKILL 
Built  by  John  Penn,  1785 


LAUREL   niLL,    OX   THE   SrilUYLKTLL 

I?iiill  hy  .los.'pli  Sliiil.-,  c.   ^7r,•i 


LAUREL  HILL 


after  his  homecoming,  he  married  Rebecca,  daughter  of 
Edward  Warner,  a  wealthy  and  prominent  citizen. 

At  Laurel  Hill  they  had  as  neighbours  on  either  bank 
of  the  river  the  Whartons,  JNIifflins,  Fishers,  Simses, 
Swifts,  Galloways,  Penns,  Peterses,  Warners,  and  many 
more  well-known  families.  Unfortunately  Francis  Rawle 
did  not  live  long  to  enjoj^  the  pleasures  of  his  plantation. 
In  1761,  he  was  mortally  wounded  by  the  accidental  dis- 
charge of  a  fowling-piece  while  shooting  near  the  Dela- 
ware and  died,  leaving  a  wife  and  three  small  children,  to 
wit,  Anna;  who  later  became  Mrs.  Clifford ;  William,  and 
Margaret,  who  in  time  married  Isaac  Wharton.  B}"  his 
will  he  left  all  his  property  to  his  widow,  including  Laurel 
Hill,  and  there  during  the  summer  months  they  lived. 

Mrs.  Rawle,  in  1767,  married  Samuel  Shoemaker,  him- 
self a  widower  with  children  and  formerly  the  intimate 
friend  of  her  first  husband.  Thereafter  the  united  Rawle 
and  Shoemaker  families  divided  their  time  in  summer 
between  Laurel  Hill  and  Mr.  Shoemaker's  own  estate  in 
Germantown.  Mr.  Shoemaker  was  an  accomplished,  es- 
timable and  much  respected  gentleman  of  large  means. 
He  held  manj^  important  public  posts  in  Philadelphia 
under  the  Royal  and  Proprietary  govermnents,  and  from 
1755  to  1776  was  continually  in  office,  serving  at  one  time 
or  another  as  councilman,  alderman,  assemblyman,  city 
treasurer,  mayor,  judge  of  the  County  Courts  and  jus- 
tice of  the  peace. 

When  the  War  for  Independence  broke  out  he,  like 
many  other  conscientious  and  worthy  people,  remained 
staunchly  loyal  to  the  government  under  which  he  had  so 
long  lived  and  held  office,  and  when  Philadelphia  was  oc- 

127 


( Ol.OMAL   IKhMES   OF   J4IILADKLPIIIA 

cupied  })y  His  Majesty's  forces  during  the  fall,  winter, 
and  spring  of  1777-1778,  at  the  request  of  Sir  William 
Howe,  he  assumed  charge  of  the  city's  civil  affairs  along 
with  his  friend  and  neighbour,  Joseph  Galloway.  In 
consequence  of  their  attitude  and  action,  the  State  Legis- 
lature, tlien  sitting  at  Lancaster,  declared  him  and  other 
prominent  citizens  guilty  of  high  treason  and  all  their 
property  forfeited  to  the  State  unless  they  surrendered 
themselves  by  the  twentieth  day  of  April  following.  This 
Shoemaker  did  not  do  and,  with  his  stepson,  William 
Rawle,  left  for  New  York,  in  June,  a  few  days  before  the 
British  forces  evacuated  Philadelphia. 

Directly  the  Revolutionary  authorities  returned  to 
the  city,  they  directed  strenuous  measures  of  confiscation 
against  the  Loyalists  and  Mr.  Shoemaker's  property  was 
among  the  first  to  claim  their  notice.  The  Act  of  At- 
tainder provided  that  after  twelve  months  the  real  estate 
of  the  attainted  persons  should  be  sold  and  that  in  the 
meanwhile  the  president  or  the  vice-president  and  Su- 
preme Executive  Council  might  rent  out  the  said  estates 
for  a  time  not  exceeding  two  years,  paying  the  taxes  and 
other  expenses  and  managing  them  until  they  should  be 
sold  in  the  manner  thereinafter  directed.  In  their  excess 
of  vindictive  zeal  the  agents  of  the  State  seized  Laurel 
Hill,  disregarding  the  fact  that  it  did  not  belong  to  Mr. 
Shoemaker,  but  to  his  wife,  and  did  not  therefore  come 
within  their  purview,  and  allowed  the  President  of  the 
State,  General  Joseph  Reed,  to  occupy  the  premises. 

The  diaries  kept  and  exchanged  by  the  separated  mem- 
bers of  the  Rawle  and  Shoemaker  families  during  this 
period  throw  much  interesting  light  upon  what  was  going 

128 


LAUREL  HILL 


on  here  and  in  New  York,  and  make  it  quite  plain  that 
the  lot  of  the  Loj^alist  families  and  sympathisers  who  re- 
mained in  Philadelphia  was  not  one  of  unalloyed  bliss. 
A  chronicle  of  the  annoyances  and  indignities  to  which 
they  were  subjected  by  the  authorities  and  the  rowdyism 
they  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  baser  sort  would  fill  a 
volume.  Several  extracts  from  Anna  Rawle's  diary  which 
she  wrote  for  the  information  of  her  mother,  then  in  New 
York,  in  the  latter  part  of  October,  1781,  when  tidings  of 
Cornwallis's'surrender  at  Yorktown  had  reached  Philadel- 
phia and  were  received  with  acclamations  of  joy,  show  the 
plight  of  quiet  and  inoffensive  neutrals  and  Loyalists  be- 
cause they  did  not  choose  to  illuminate  their  houses  in 
honour  of  an  event  they  honestly  regarded  as  a  disaster. 

October  25. — Fifth  Day. — I  suppose,  dear  Mammy,  thee  would 
not  have  imagined  this  house  to  be  illuminated  last  night,  but 
it  was.  A  mob  surrounded  it,  broke  the  shutters  and  the  glass 
of  the  windows,  and  were  coming  in,  none  but  forlorn  women 
here.  We  for  a  time  listened  for  their  attacks  in  fear  and 
trembling  till,  finding  them  grow  more  loud  and  violent,  not  know- 
ing what  to  do,  we  ran  into  the  yard.  Warm  Whigs  of  one  side, 
and  Hartley's  of  the  other  (who  were  treated  even  worse  than 
we),  rendered  it  impossible  for  us  to  escape  that  way.  We  had 
not  been  there  many  minutes  before  we  were  drove  back  by  the 
sight  of  two  men  climbing  the  fence.  We  thought  the  mob  were 
coming  in  thro'  there,  but  it  proved  to  be  Cobum  and  Bob 
Shewell,  who  called  to  us  not  to  be  frightened,  and  fixed  lights 
up  at  the  windows,  which  pacified  the  mob,  and  after  three  huzzas 
they  moved  off.  A  number  of  men  came  in  aftenvards  to  see  us. 
French  and  J.  B.  nailed  boards  up  at  the  broken  pannels,  or 
it  would  not  have  been  safe  to  have  gone  to  bed.  Cobum  and 
Shewell  were  really  very  kind ;  had  it  not  been  for  them  I  really 
believe  the  house  would  have  been  pulled  down.  Even  the  firm 
9  12!) 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF  PHILADELPHIA 

LTncIc  Fisher  was  obliged  to  submit  to  have  his  windows  illumi- 
nated, for  tlii-y  liad  })ic-kaxes  and  iron  bars  with  which  they  liad 
done  considerable  injury  to  his  house.  In  short  it  was  the  most 
alarming  scene  I  ever  remember.  For  two  hours  we  had  the  dis- 
agreeable noise  of  stones  banging  about,  glass  crashing,  and  the 
tumultuous  voices  of  a  large  body  of  men,  as  they  were  a  long 
time  at  the  different  houses  in  the  neighbourhood.  At  last  they 
were  victorious,  and  it  was  one  general  illumination  throughout 
the  town.  As  we  had  not  the  pleasure  of  seeing  any  of  the 
gentlemen  in  the  house,  nor  the  furniture  cut  up,  and  goods 
stolen,  nor  been  beat,  nor  pistols  pointed  at  our  breasts,  we  may 
count  our  sufferings  slight  compared  to  many  others.  Mr.  Gibbs 
was  obliged  to  make  his  escape  over  a  fence,  and  while  his  wife 
was  endeavouring  to  shield  him  from  the  rage  of  one  of  the 
men,  she  received  a  violent  bruise  in  the  breast,  and  a  blow  in  the 
face  which  made  her  nose  bleed.  Ben.  Shoemaker  was  here  this 
morning;  tho'  exceedingly  threatened  he  says  he  came  off  with 
the  loss  of  four  panes  of  glass.  Some  Whig  friends  put  candles 
in  the  windows  which  made  his  peace  with  the  mob,  and  they  re- 
tired. John  Drinker  has  lost  half  the  goods  out  of  his  shop  and 
been  beat  by  them;  in  short  the  sufferings  of  those  they  pleased 
to  style  Tories  would  fill  a  volume  and  shake  the  credulity  of 
those  who  were  not  here  on  that  memorable  night,  and  to-day 
Philadelphia  makes  an  uncommon  appearance,  which  ought  to 
cover  the  Whigs  with  eternal  confusion.  ...  J.  Head  has 
nothing  left  whole  in  his  parlour.  Uncle  Penington  lost  a  good 
deal  of  window  glass.  .  .  .  The  Drinkers  and  Wains  make  heavy 
complaints  of  the  Carolinians  in  their  neighbourhood.  Wains' 
pickles  were  thrown  about  the  streets  and  barrells  of  sugar  stolen. 

Strange  as  it  may  now  seem,  the  ruffianly  behaviour 
of  this  rabble  crew  appears  to  have  been  condoned,  and 
even  to  some  extent  concurred  in,  by  those  that  would  not 

ISO 


LAUREL  HILL 


naturally  be  expected  to  countenance  such  doings. 
Highly  respectable  people  among  the  Whigs  told  Mrs. 
Galloway  and  others,  who  had  sustained  much  loss  through 
the  animosity  of  the  mob,  that  they  were  "  sorry  for  her 
furniture  but  not  for  her  windows  " — a  rather  peculiar 
and  inconsistent  distinction  to  draw.  Though  brimful 
of  partisan  bias  and  hot  prejudice,  Miss  Rawle's  account 
of  the  activities  of  several  of  the  Whig  ladies  of  the  city 
in  behalf  of  the  army  a  little  prior  to  this,  is  too  amusing, 
as  seen  by  Loyalist  eyes,  to  omit: 

But  of  all  absurdities  the  ladies  going  about  for  money  ex- 
ceeded everything;  they  were  so  extremely  importunate  that  peo- 
ple were  obliged  to  give  them  something  to  get  rid  of  them.  Mrs. 
Beech  [Bache]  and  the  set  with  her,  came  to  our  door  the  morn- 
ing after  thee  went,  and  turned  back  again.  The  reason  she  gave 
to  a  person  who  told  me  was  that  she  did  not  chuse  to  face  Mrs. 
S.  or  her  daughters. 

H[annah]  Thompson,  Mrs.  [Robert]  Morris,  Mrs.  [James] 
Wilson,  and  a  number  of  very  genteel  women,  paraded  about 
streets  in  this  manner,  some  carrying  ink  stands,  nor  did  they 
let  the  meanest  ale  house  escape.  The  gentlemen  also  were  hon- 
oured with  their  visits.  Bob  Wharton  declares  he  was  never  so 
teased  in  his  life.  They  reminded  him  of  the  extreme  rudeness 
of  refusing  anything  to  the  fair,  but  he  was  inexorable  and 
pleaded  want  of  money,  and  the  heavy  taxes,  so  at  length  they 
left  him,  after  threatening  to  hand  his  name  down  to  posterity 
with  infamy. 

In  February,  1782,  Mr.  Shoemaker's  life-interest  in 
his  wife's  estate  at  Laurel  Hill  was  sold  by  the  State 
agents  to  Major  James  Parr,  an  extensive  investor  in 
confiscated  lands.  Parr  almost  immediately  thereafter 
leased  the  place  to  the  French  minister,  the  Chevalier  de 

131 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

la  Luzerne,  who  will  ever  remain  famous  for  the  magnifi- 
cent celebration  he  gave  at  his  towTi  house  in  honour  of 
the  birthday  of  the  Dauphin.  As  he  w^as  so  lavish  in 
his  entertainment,  we  may  \vell  believe  that  Laurel  Hill 
during  his  occupancy  was  the  scene  of  much  social  gaiety. 
It  w^as  certainly  the  scene  of  much  good  dining.  The 
chevalier,  of  course,  had  his  French  cook  and  the  French 
cook,  to  be  sure,  had  his  truffle-dog  and  the  truffle-dog, 
forsooth,  was  fain  to  follow  the  occupation  for  which  he 
had  been  bred.  That  sagacious  animal,  to  his  everlast- 
ing credit  be  it  said,  did  what  no  botanist  had  ever  done 
before  or  has  ever  succeeded  in  doing  since.  He  dug  for 
truffles  on  the  lawn  of  Laurel  Hill  and  found  theml 
Could  we  now  secure  others  of  his  breed  we  might  add 
a  new  article  to  our  native  food  supply. 

After  the  peace,  when  the  zeal  against  the  Loyalists 
had  in  some  measure  abated,  the  authorities  view^ed  the 
matter  more  calmly  and  saw  that  the  title  was  still  vested 
in  Mrs.  Shoemaker.  Pursuant  to  some  negotiations  with 
JMajor  Parr  and  his  tenant,  the  Chevalier  de  la  Luzerne, 
the  estate  was  restored  to  its  rightful  owners,  who  re- 
turned after  an  absence  of  five  years.  In  1828,  William 
llawle,  as  trustee  under  his  mother's  will,  sold  Laurel 
Hill  to  Doctor  Philip  Syng  Physick,  reference  to  whom 
is  made  elsewhere,  and  from  him  the  estate  passed  to  his 
descendants,  the  Randolphs,  who  retained  it  till  the  city 
bought  it  for  a  part  of  Fairmount  Park  in  18(39.  After 
being  let  out  for  divers  uses  by  the  park  commissioners 
the  house  was  at  last  put  in  the  care  of  the  Colonial  Dames 
of  America,  who  now  maintain  it  in  good  order  and  there 
hold  stated  meetings. 


WOODFORD 

IN  THE  NORTHERN  LIBERTIES.  FAIRMOUNT  PARK 

COLEMAN— BARCLAY— FRANKS— PASCHALL— LEWIS 

—WHARTON 


900DF0RD  is  situated  in  the  East 
Park  at  York  and  Thirty-third 
Streets  near  the  Dauphin  Street  sta- 
tion of  the  Fairmount  Park  Elec- 
tric Railway.  The  fine  old  door- 
way is  reached  by  six  soapstone 
steps  and  opens  into  a  large  hall 
with  an  entrance  at  once  into  front  rooms  on  either 
side.  Beyond  these  doors  are  square  columns  against 
the  walls  of  the  hall  with  crosspiece  of  detail  work, 
but  no  stairway  appears.  This  ascends  from  a  large  hall 
in  the  centre  of  the  house  reached  by  a  door  in  the  side. 
The  stairway  and  halls  are  spacious  and  the  rooms  large, 
each  with  a  fireplace  with  ornamental  iron  back  and 
square  bricks  for  hearth.  In  the  front  south  room  the 
tiles  surrounding  the  fireplace  are  blue  and  represent 
Elizabethan  knights  and  ladies.  The  cornices  in  the 
rooms  are  rounding,  the  boards  of  the  floors  an  inch  and 
a  half  thick  and  dowelled  together.  The  doors  have  brass 
hanging  loops  instead  of  knobs  and  the  woodwork,  includ- 
ing mantels  and  wainscot,  is  in  fine  condition. 

The  ground  upon  which  it  stands  was  granted  by 
William  Penn,  February  16,  1693,  to  Maiy  Rotchford, 
who  deeded  the  tract  of  two  hundred  acres  to  Thomas 
Shute  in  the  same  year.  At  his  death  in  1754  it  was  sold 
to  Abel  James,  a  son-in-law  of  Thomas  Chalkley  and  one 
of  the  consignees  of  the  tea  in  the  Polly  which  was  sent 

133 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF  rillLADELPHIA 

back  to  Knglaiul.  He  sold  it  to  Joseph  Shute,  son  of 
Thomas,  in  1756,  and  immediately  afterward  it  was  sold 
at  sheriff's  sale,  twelve  acres  going  to  William  Coleman, 
who  built  the  house.  He  was  a  friend  of  Franklin,  mem- 
ber of  the  "  Junto,"  a  scholar,  and  an  eminent  jurist. 
Franklin  says  of  him: 

And  Williiini  Coleman,  then  a  merchant's  clerk,  about  my 
age,  who  had  the  coolest,  clearest  head,  the  best  heart,  and  the 
exactest  morals  of  almost  any  man  I  ever  met  with.  He  became 
afterwards  a  merchant  of  great  note,  and  one  of  our  provincial 
judges.  Our  friendship  continued  without  interruption  to  his 
death,  upwards  of  forty  years. 

This  in  describing  the  members  of  the  "  Junto  "  which 
met  on  Friday  evenings  and  w^as  for  mutual  improvement. 
Every  member  must  produce  in  his  turn  one  or  more 
queries  on  any  point  of  morals,  politics,  or  natural  phi- 
losophy, to  be  discussed  by  the  company,  and  once  in  three 
months  produce  and  read  an  essay  of  his  own  writing, 
on  any  subject  he  pleased.  Franklin  says  it  "  was  the 
best  school  of  philosophy,  morality  and  politics  that  then 
existed  in  the  province." 

William  Coleman  was  a  member  of  Common  Council 
in  1739,  justice  of  the  peace  and  judge  of  the  Coimty 
Courts  in  1751,  and  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Pennsylvania  from  1759  until  he  died,  aged  sixty- four,  in 
1769.  The  mansion  on  the  "  East  side  of  the  river 
Schuylkill  and  west  side  of  Wessahykken  Road  "  shows 
him  fond  of  study  and  retirement. 

The  executors  of  William  Coleman  sold  the  place  to 
Alexander  Barclay,  Comptroller  of  His  Majesty's  Cus- 
toms at  the  Port  of  Philadelphia.     He  was  the  son  of 

134 


>  ,      j'      1      «        >       , 


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5  j3       >  1     J 


'      i     '    ,     '     '        " 


'      '         '         ,'      '    ^ 


.  J  -     0    \  ,     > 


■aj       >i5>-i)         '^'I'j  >•> 


o 


=-   SO 

I  2 

?  2 


WOODFORD 


David  Barclay  and  the  grandson  of  Robert  Barclay  of 
Ury,  the  famous  Quaker  theologian  and  "  Apologist." 

He  died  in  1771  and  the  property  then  became  the 
home  of  David  Franks,  the  son  of  Jacob  and  Abigail 
Franks,  and  an  eminent  Jewish  merchant.  He  was  very 
prominent  socially  and  a  public-spirited  man,  the  signer 
of  the  Non-Importation  Resolutions  in  1765,  in  which  the 
signers  agreed  "  not  to  have  any  goods  shipped  from  Great 
Britain  until  after  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,"  a 
member  of  the  Provincial  Assembly  in  1748,  the  register 
of  wills,  and  a  subscriber  to  the  City  Dancing  Assembly. 
He  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  Peter  Evans,  and  has 
been  thought  to  have  deserted  the  faith  of  his  fathers. 
This,  however,  is  disproved  by  an  affidavit  he  made  before 
Judge  Peters  in  1792.  The  family  was  descended  from 
Aaron  Franks,  the  companion  and  friend  of  King  George 
of  Hanover,  to  whom  he  loaned  the  most  valuable  jewels 
in  the  crown  at  the  coronation.  The  son  Jacob  came  to 
New  York  about  1711,  and  his  son  David  came  to  Phila- 
delphia soon  after  1738,  a  niece  having  married  Haym 
Salomon,  whose  money  joined  with  Robert  Morris's  in 
financing  the  Revolution. 

David  Franks  was  the  agent  of  the  Crown  in  Phila- 
delphia during  the  troublous  times  and  was  made  com- 
missary of  the  British  prisoners  in  the  American  lines 
until  1778,  when  he  was  detected  in  endeavouring  to  trans- 
mit a  letter  inimical  to  the  American  cause.  His  neigh- 
bour, General  Benedict  Arnold,  in  command  of  Philadel- 
phia and  living  in  the  JNIacpherson  mansion  nearby,  ar- 
rested him  and  threw  him  into  gaol.  He  was  deprived 
of  his  commission  as  commissary  and  compelled  to  re- 

135 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

move  to  New  York  in  1780.  His  sister,  Fila  Franks, 
married  Captain  Oliver  De  Lancey,  of  New  York,  who, 
with  Major  Andre,  painted  the  decorations  for  the 
"  Mischianza  "  and  served  with  credit  in  the  Provincial 
troops  during  the  llevolution.  He  was  made  a  brigadier- 
general,  and  died  in  England  in  1785. 

David  Franks  had  four  children — Abigail,  who  mar- 
ried Andrew  Hamilton  of  the  Woodlands,  afterwards 
attorney-general  of  the  State;  Jacob,  Mary  or  Polly,  and 
Rebecca,  who  married  Lieutenant-Colonel,  afterward 
General,  Sir  Henry  Johnson,  defeated  and  captured  by 
General  Anthony  Wayne  at  Stony  Point.  Rebecca 
Franks  was  the  most  striking  figure  in  a  notable  galaxy 
of  society  lights.  She  was  brilliant,  witty  and  of  a  win- 
some presence,  the  most  graceful  among  the  graceful,  the 
most  beautiful  among  the  beautiful.  Born  about  1760, 
well  educated,  at  home  in  the  classics,  familiar  with  Mil- 
ton, Goldsmith,  Swift,  and  others,  she  was  of  that  group 
of  aristocrats,  who  having  derived  their  wealth  and  pros- 
perity from  the  favour  of  the  Crown,  sided  with  the  Loy- 
alists and  favoured  law,  order,  and  property  as  opposed 
to  mobs  and  violence.  She  was  a  gifted  writer  and  has 
left  in  her  letters  interesting  accounts  of  the  society  of 
the  day  as  well  as  a  poem  of  some  fifteen  hundred  lines 
written  in  the  summer  of  1779,  which  is  a  political  satire 
full  of  unmeasured  abuse  of  the  leaders  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War.  General  Howe  was  in  the  habit  of  tying 
his  horse  in  front  of  the  house  in  which  the  Franks  lived 
and  going  in  to  have  a  chat  with  the  wit  of  the  day. 

This  sprightly  person  was  naturally  one  of  the  belles 
of  the  celebrated  "  Mischianza  "  given  May  18,  1778,  by 

136 


WOODFORD 


the  British  officers  in  honour  of  General  Howe  upon  his 
departure.  The  word  is  an  Italian  one  and  signifies  a 
medley.  It  was  celebrated  upon  a  scale  of  magnificence 
rarely  equalled  in  those  days  and  its  description  reads 
like  a  page  from  Ivanhoe,  forcibly  calling  to  mind  the 
days  of  chivalry.  The  guests  embarked  from  Green 
Street  wharf  and  proceeded  in  a  river  pageant  to  what 
is  now  Washington  Avenue,  where  they  landed  and  ad- 
vanced to  Joseph  Wharton's  place,  Walnut  Grove,  sit- 
uated at  about  what  is  now  Fifth  Street  and  Washington 
Avenue.  After  this  there  was  a  tournament  in  which 
England's  bravest  soldiers  appeared  in  honour  of  Phila- 
delphia's fairest  women,  being  divided  into  six  Knights 
of  the  Blended  Rose  and  six  Knights  of  the  Burning 
Mountain,  each  wearing  the  colours  of  his  particular  prin- 
cess. Lord  Cathcart  led  the  former,  appearing  in  honour 
of  Miss  Auchmuty,  the  only  English  maiden  present  and 
the  betrothed  of  Captain  Montresor,  chief  engineer.  The 
Knights  of  the  Burning  Mountain  were  led  by  Captain 
Watson,  who  appeared  for  Miss  Franks. 

She  was  dressed  in  a  white  silk  gown,  trimmed  with 
blue  and  white  sash  edged  with  black.  It  was  a  polo- 
naise dress,  which  formed  a  flowing  robe  and  was  open 
in  front  to  the  waist.  The  sash,  six  inches  wide,  was 
filled  with  spangles,  also  the  veil  which  was  edged  with 
silver  lace.  The  headdress  was  towering,  in  the  fashion 
of  the  time,  and  filled  with  a  profusion  of  pearls.  ISIajor 
Andre  planned  most  of  the  entertainment  and  has  left  a 
detailed  account  of  it  as  well  as  drawings  of  the  costumes. 
He  painted  many  of  the  decorations  and  Captain  ]Mon- 
tresor  of  the  engineers  planned  the  fireworks.     After 

137 


(OLOXJAL   HOMES   OF   PIIILADPXPIIIA 

the  tourney  there  was  a  supper  with  royalist  toasts  fol- 
lowed hy  dancing  until  four  o'clock,  and  all  in  the  midst 
of  a  l)k)()(ly  war  and  within  a  few  miles  of  the  enemy! 

After  the  evacuation  of  the  city  by  the  British  army, 
Lieutenant  Jack  Stewart  of  JNIaryland,  calling  upon  Miss 
Franks  in  a  scarlet  coat,  remarked,  "  I  have  adopted 
your  colours,  my  princess,  the  better  to  secure  a  kind  re- 
ception; deign  to  smile  on  a  true  knight."  The  beauty 
did  not  reply,  but  addressing  some  friends  in  the  room  ex- 
claimed, "  How  the  ass  glories  in  the  lion's  skin."  A 
commotion  arising  in  the  street  at  the  time,  they  looked 
out  and  saw  a  figure  in  female  attire  with  ragged  skirts 
and  bare  feet,  but  with  the  exaggerated  headdress  of  the 
Tory  ladies.  The  unfortunate  officer  remarked  that,  "  the 
lady  was  equipped  altogether  in  the  English  fashion." 
"  Not  altogether.  Colonel,"  replied  Miss  Franks,  "  for 
though  the  style  of  her  head  is  British,  her  shoes  and 
stockings  are  in  the  genuine  Continental  fashion."  When 
the  French  Alliance  was  announced,  the  patriots  wore 
cockades  in  its  honour.  Miss  Franks  tied  one  of  these 
to  her  dog  and  bribed  a  servant  to  turn  it  into  the  ball- 
room where  IVIrs.  Washington  w^as  giving  a  reception 
to  the  French  minister.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  having 
lost  her  manners  she  lost  her  dog  as  well. 

In  a  letter  to  her  sister,  Mrs.  Hamilton,  she  wTites 
the  most  detailed  and  piquant  account  that  w^e  possess 
of  New  York  social  life  during  the  Revolution. 

She  thinks  that  it  is  in  the  powers  of  entertaining  that 
New  Yorkers  are  most  deficient: 

Bye  the  bye,  few  ladies  liere  know  how  to  entertain  company 
in  their  ovm  houses,  unless  they  introduce  the  card  table.     .     .     . 

138 


WOODFORD 


I  will  do  our  ladies — that  is,  the  Philadelphians — the  justice  to 
say  that  they  have  more  cleverness  in  the  turn  of  an  eye,  than 
those  of  New  York  have  in  their  whole  composition.  With  what 
ease  have  I  seen  a  Chew,  an  Oswald,  an  Allen,  and  a  thousand 
others,  entertain  a  large  circle  of  both  sexes,  and  the  conversation 
without  the  aid  of  cards  not  flag  or  seem  the  least  strained  or 
stupid. 


"O 


She  finally  settled  down  in  Bath,  England,  with  her 
husband,  and  when  General  Winfield  Scott  visited  her  in 
1816  she  had  become,  from  bad  health,  prematurely  old, 
a  very  near  approach  to  a  ghost,  and  was  rolled  about  in 
an  easy  chair.  Still  maintaining  some  of  her  fire  she  ex- 
claimed to  him,  pointing  to  heaven  with  both  hands, 
"  Would  to  God  I,  too,  had  been  a  patriot." 

At  a  ball  given  by  the  English  officers  in  New  York, 
General  Sir  Henry  Clinton  requested  the  band  to  play 
"  Britons  Strike  Home,"  whereupon  Miss  Franks  ex- 
claimed, "  The  Commander-in-Chief  has  made  a  mistake, 
he  meant  to  say  '  Britons  Go  Home.'  " 

His  adherence  to  the  British  side  caused  the  confisca- 
tion of  David  Franks's  property  and,  November  22,  1780, 
Woodford  went  to  Thomas  Paschall,  son  of  Stephen 
Paschall  and  a  friend  of  Benjamin  Franklin.  William 
Lewis,  a  famous  advocate,  also  lived  in  it  and  finally,  in 
1793,  it  came  into  the  Wharton  family,  Isaac  Wharton 
being  the  purchaser.  Isaac  Wharton  was  born  Septem- 
ber 15,  1745,  the  son  of  Joseph  and  Hannah  Carpenter 
Wharton  and  the  grandson  of  Thomas  and  Rachel 
Thomas  Wharton.  He  was  married  to  Margaret  Rawie, 
daughter  of  Francis  and  Rebecca  Warner  Rawle.  Isaac's 
father,  Joseph  Wharton,  was  the  owner  of  Walnut  Grove 

139 


COLOMAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

in  Southwark  where  the  "  JNIischianza  "  was  held  in  May, 
1778.  At  Isaac  Wharton's  death  in  1778,  the  partition 
of  the  estate  brought  the  seat  to  his  son,  Francis  Rawle 
Wharton,  who  married  Juliana  Matilda,  daughter  of 
Isaac  Gouverneur  of  New  York.  He  w^as  the  last  private 
owner  of  Woodford  and  it  came  to  Fairmount  Park  in 
1868.  It  was  occupied  by  Chief  Engineers  John  C. 
Cresson  and  Russell  Thayer  and  since  May  16,  1887,  has 
been  used  as  a  guardhouse.  The  two  small  lodge-houses 
on  the  place  are  still  standing  and  in  use. 


BELMONT 

BLOCKLEY  TOWNSHIP.  WEST  PHILADELPHIA 
PETERS 


F  all  the  multitudes  that  each  year 
visit  Fairmount  Park  and  pass  the 
door  of  Belmont  INIansion,  it  is  safe 
to  say  that  hardly  one  in  a  thou- 
sand thinks  of  it  as  the  former  home 
of  one  of  the  most  eminent  men 
of  the  Colonial  and  Revolutionary 
periods.  Here  was  born,  here  lived,  and  here  died 
the  Honourable  Richard  Peters,  sometime  judge  of  the 
United  States  District  Court  in  Pennsylvania,  Commis- 
sioner of  War  during  the  struggle  for  Independence,  and 
the  country's  first  Secretary  of  War,  in  deed,  if  not  in 
name. 

So  many  changes  have  been  wrought  in  the  house  and 
surroundings  since  Judge  Peters's  time,  that  the  pictu- 
resque charm  of  its  Colonial  character  is  obscured.  It 
has  been  turned  into  a  restaurant  and  so  altered  and 
added  to  that  it  is  not  easy  to  discern  what  part  of  the 
present  structure  was,  in  its  day,  one  of  the  handsomest 
seats  in  the  neighbourhood.  A  third  floor  has  been  piled 
atop  and  wings  and  l)ack  buildings  have  been  built  on 
to  such  an  extent  that  the  original  fabric  is  almost  smoth- 
ered. Examine  closely,  however,  and  you  will  find  un- 
mistakable traces  of  age  in  parts  of  the  walls.  Then 
enter  the  distressingly  ugly  modern  doorway  and  you 
will  find  yourself  in  a  delightful  room  that  was  once  the 
great  hall  of  the  house.  The  present  furnishing  of  little 
ice-cream  tables  and  flimsy  chairs  is  sadly  out  of  keeping 

141 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPmA 


witli  the  stately  panelling  and  carving  and  the  ornate 
plaster  work  of  the  ceiling — one  of  the  most  elaborate  ex- 
amples of  Colonial  plaster  work  known — where  viols  and 
guitars,  trumpets  and  shepherd's  reeds  are  intermingled 
witli  tlie  arms  and  crest  of  the  Peters  family.  In  the  dog- 
ears of  the  door-trims  are  carved  dainty  little  rosettes, 
while  the  pediments  above  are  finished  with  the  infinite 
pains  of  the  woodcarver's  art.  The  embellishment  of  the 
overmantel  matches  the  rest  of  the  carved  woodwork.  If 
one  has  the  courage  to  face  further  desecration  to  which 
this  lordly  old  dwelling  is  subjected,  he  can  pursue 
his  investigations  and  find  other  rooms  with  gems  of 
carving  and  staircases  whose  balustrades  and  spindles 
might  grace  a  Georgian  museum. 

Of  all  the  houses  in  Fairmount  Park,  Belmont  has 
suffered  most  at  the  hands  of  the  vandal.  Apart  from  its 
commanding  site,  whence  an  extensive  panorama  of  the 
West  Park,  the  Schuylkill  River,  and  part  of  the  city 
spreads  out  before  the  eye,  and  the  beautiful  interior 
Avoodwork  and  remarkable  ceiling  of  ttie  great  hall,  its 
chief  attraction  for  us  lies  in  the  memory  of  the  remark- 
able man  who  dwelt  under  its  roof  through  eighty-four 
years  of  an  eventful  life  passed  in  a  most  eventful  period 
of  our  national  history. 

Belmont,  in  the  township  of  Blockley,  as  all  that  sec- 
tion immediately  west  of  the  Schuylkill  was  called,  from 
Blockley  in  England  whence  came  the  Warner  family 
who  first  owned  this  tract,  was  built  in  1742  or  1743 
(proba])ly  finished  in  the  latter  year)  by  William  Peters, 
the  father  of  the  judge.  William  Peters,  who  was  a 
younger  brotlicr  of  Kichard  Peters,  sometime  secretary 

144 


BELMONT 


of  the  Land  Office,  secretary  of  several  Provincial  gov- 
ernours,  rector  of  Christ  Church  and  subsequently,  by 
order  of  the  Proprietaries,  Councillor  of  the  Province 
came  from  England  to  Pennsylvania  prior  to  1739  and 
practised  law  in  Chester  County,  which  reached  at  that 
time  to  the  borders  of  the  city.  He  seems  to  have  been 
induced  to  come  out  to  the  Colonies  partly  to  assuage  his 
grief  at  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  and  partly  by  the  fact 
that  his  elder  brother  was  already  here.  In  1741  he  mar- 
ried Mary  Breintnall,  a  lady  equally  charming  in  character 
and  person,  the  daughter  of  a  prominent  family.  It  was 
on  the  occasion  of  this  marriage  that  he  made  his  home 
at  Belmont. 

Here  Richard  Peters  first  saw  the  light  of  day  in 
June,  1744.  He  received  his  education  in  Philadelphia, 
and  at  the  time  when  he  entered  upon  the  practice  of  law 
he  was  known  as  an  excellent  Latin  and  Greek  scholar 
and  was  well  versed  in  both  French  and  German.  His 
fluency  in  the  latter  tongue  served  him  in  good  stead  in 
his  country  practice  which  lay  largely  among  the  Ger- 
mans. Richard  Peters  was  a  keen  wit  and  a  most  bril- 
liant as  well  as  incessant  conversationalist.  It  was  his 
wont  to  follow  the  assizes  or  circuits  of  the  courts  in 
all  the  surrounding  counties,  and  on  these  occasions  he 
always  relieved  the  tedium  of  the  legal  atmosphere  by 
his  humorous  sallies.  When  the  Pennsylvania  delegation 
went  to  the  conference  with  the  Indians  at  Fort  Stanwix, 
in  New  York  State,  Peters  accompanied  them  and,  dur- 
ing the  negotiations,  so  insinuated  himself  into  the  good 
graces  of  the  Indian  chiefs  that  they  proposed  to  adopt 
him  into  their  tribe.     Their  offer  was  accepted  and  Peters 

us 


(OLOMAL    HOMES   OF    PHILADKLPIIIA 

was  introduced  to  his  adoptive  relatives  by  the  name 
"  Te^ohtias,"  meaning  "  Paroquet,"  bestowed  in  alhision 
to  his  amusing  talkativeness. 

\\'hen  tile  storm  of  the  Revolution  broke,  though  his 
associations  with  the  Proprietary  government  might  have 
been  expected  to  attach  him  to  the  King's  interests,  he 
did  not  hesitate  to  espouse  the  defence  of  American  rights 
and  organise  a  company  in  the  neigh})ourhood  of  his  home, 
filling  the  post  of  captain.  His  military  career,  however, 
was  of  short  duration,  for  his  administrative  and  execu- 
tive abilities  were  so  well  known  that  he  was  soon  sum- 
moned "  from  the  camp  to  the  cabinet,"  As  Commissioner 
of  War  he  faithfully  and  ably  served  the  country  in  a 
most  difficult  and  trying  position  and  it  is  no  exaggera- 
tion to  say  that,  had  it  not  been  for  his  indomitable  energ}'- 
and  unceasing  labours,  Washington's  forces  would  many 
a  time  have  been  far  more  sadly  handicapped  than  they 
were  for  lack  of  provisions  and  ammunition,  and  it  is 
not  impossible  that  the  event  of  the  war  might  have  been 
different. 

Some  notion  of  the  Continental  Army's  frequently 
grievous  state  as  well  as  some  notion  of  the  tremendous 
burden  Peters  bore  on  his  shoulders  during  all  the  anx- 
ious years  of  strife  may  be  gained  from  Peters's  o^v^l 
words  taken  from  one  of  his  letters. 

I  was  Commissioner  of  War  in  1779.  General  Washington 
wrote  to  me  that  all  his  powder  was  wet  and  that  he  was 
entirely  without  lead  or  balls,  so  that,  should  the  enemy  approach, 
he  must  retreat.  When  I  received  this  letter  I  was  going  to  a 
^and  gala  at  the  Sj)anish  Ambassador's  who  lived  in  Mr.  Chew's 
fine  liouse  in  south  Third  street.     The  spacious  gardens  were  su- 

U4 


BELMONT 


perbly  decorated  with  variegated  lamps,  the  edifice  itself  was  a 
blaze  of  lights,  the  show  was  splendid,  but  my  feelings  were  far 
from  being  in  harmony  with  all  this  brilliancy.  I  met  at  this 
party  my  friend,  Robert  Morris,  who  soon  discovered  the  state 
of  my  mind.  "  You  are  not  yourself  tonight,  Peters,  what  is 
the  matter.? "  asked  Morris.  Notwithstanding  my  unlimited 
confidence  in  that  great  patriot,  it  was  some  time  before  I  could 
prevail  upon  myself  to  disclose  the  cause  of  my  depression,  but 
at  length  I  ventured  to  give  him  a  hint  of  my  inability  to  answer 
the  pressing  calls  of  the  Commander-in-Chief.  The  army  is  with- 
out lead  and  I  know  not  where  to  get  an  ounce  to  supply  it;  the 
General  must  retreat  for  want  of  ammunition.  "  Well,  let  him 
retreat,"  replied  the  high  and  liberal-minded  Morris ;  "  but  cheer 
up;  there  are  in  the  Holker  Privateer,  just  arrived,  ninety  tons 
of  lead,  one-half  of  which  is  mine  and  at  your  service,  the  resi- 
due you  can  get  by  applying  to  Blair  McClenachan  and  Holker, 
both  of  whom  are  in  the  house  with  us."  I  accepted  the  offer 
of  Mr.  Morris. 

Peters  then  goes  on  to  relate  how  he  approached 
McClenachan  and  Holker,  both  of  whom,  however,  de- 
murred because  of  the  large  sums  already  owing  them. 
Thereupon  Morris  came  forward,  assumed  the  whole  re- 
sponsibility, the  lead  was  delivered  and  so  the  army  for 
the  nonce  had  a  supply  of  bullets. 

Peters's  assiduous  labours  as  Commissioner  of  War 
were  continued  throughout  the  Revolution.  He  toiled  un- 
ceasingly to  keep  the  army  furnished  with  necessary  am- 
munition and  supplies  at  a  time  "  when  wants  were  plenty 
and  supplies  lamentably  scarce."  After  the  surrender 
of  Cornwallis,  Mr.  Peters  resigned  his  post  in  the  War 
Office,  December,   1781,  whereupon  Congress  resolved: 

10  145 


COLONIAL   IIO.MES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

that  Mr.  IV'ter's  letter  of  resignation  be  entered  on  the  Journal 
and  that  he  be  informed  that  Congress  are  sensible  of  his  merit 
and  convinced  of  liis  attachment  to  the  cause  of  his  country  and 
return  him  their  thanks  for  his  long  and  faithful  services  in  the 
War  Department. 

Upon  leaving  the  War  Office  ]Mr.  Peters  was  elected 
a  member  of  Congress  and  had  his  share  in  the  business 
of  ending  the  war  and  arranging  the  longed-for  peace. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  war,  in  1785,  ^Ir.  Peters 
visited  England,  having  among  other  objects  of  his  visit 
a  commission  of  a  semi-public  nature  that  brought  him 
into  acquaintance  with  the  primate  and  principal  prelates 
of  the  Knglish  Church — the  securing  of  consent  for  the 
English  bishops  to  consecrate  to  the  Episcopate  three 
American  priests,  Doctors  White,  JMoore,  and  Provoost. 
His  mission,  it  is  needless  to  say,  was  ultimately  suc- 
cessful. After  the  conclusion  of  peace,  jNIr.  Peters  was 
speaker  of  the  State  Assembly  until  President  Wash- 
ington appointed  him  judge  of  the  L^nited  States  Dis- 
trict Court  of  Pennsylvania,  a  position  he  held  until  the 
time  of  his  death  thirty-six  years  later. 

During  Judge  Peters's  lifetime,  Belmont  was  the  scene 
of  lavish  and  constant  hospitality  and  while  I'hiladelphia 
was  the  seat  of  Federal  government  the  chief  statesmen, 
diplomats,  and  foreign  notables  were  frequent  guests 
there.  The  judge  dearly  loved  to  surround  himself  ^vith 
his  friends,  and  his  political  prominence,  his  intellectual 
brilliance,  and  above  all  his  genial  personality  drew  a  large 
coterie  about  him.  Washington  and  Lafayette  were  on 
terms  of  great  intimacy  with  him  and  the  former,  "  when- 
ever a  morning  of  leisure  permitted,"  was  in  the  habit 

146 


BELMONT 


of  driving  to  Belmont  and  there,  free  for  a  time  from 
the  cares  of  State,  would  enjoy  his  host's  vivacious  flow 
of  conversation,  walking  for  hours  with  him  in  the  beau- 
tiful gardens  between  "  clipped  hedges  of  pyramids,  obe- 
lisks and  balls  "  of  evergreen  and  spruce,  or  beneath  the 
shade  of  ancient  trees.  So  much  for  the  more  serious  side 
of  Richard  Peters's  career. 

Notwithstanding  his  high  reputation  as  a  patriot, 
statesman,  and  jurist,  he  is  best  remembered  as  a  brilliant 
wit  and  many  stories  of  his  bon  mots  have  been  carefully 
treasured.  His  was  the  eminently  happy  faculty  of  al- 
ways being  able  to  raise  a  wholesome,  good-natured 
laugh  without  the  least  trace  of  ill-humour  or  sharpness. 
Despite  his  scintillating  gaiety,  his  bursts  were  always 
well-timed  and  his  manner  and  behaviour  were  never 
wanting  in  dignity  and  decorum.  On  one  occasion  the 
judge  was  attending  a  dinner  of  the  Schuylkill  Fishing 
Company  and  was  seated  beside  the  president,  Governour 
Wharton.  Toward  the  end  of  the  dinner  more  wine  was 
required  and  the  Governour  called  a  serving-man  named 
John  to  fetch  it.  Said  the  judge,  "  If  you  want  more 
wine,  you  should  call  for  the  demi-John." 

In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  Judge  Peters  was  deeply 
interested  in  real  estate  matters  and  tried  to  develope  a 
suburban  tract  he  owned.  To  advertise  it  he  posted  a 
plan  of  the  locality  on  a  signboard  and  carefully  covered 
it  with  glass.  When  asked  the  reason  for  the  glass  cov- 
ering, he  promptly  responded,  "  Oh,  if  I  leave  it  exposed, 
every  hunter  who  comes  along  will  riddle  it  with  shot  and 
then  everybody  will  see  through  my  plan."  The  project 
was  not  successful  and  one  of  his  friends  advised  him  to 

147 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

have  it  officially  laid  out.  "  All  right,"  said  Peters,  "  it's 
time  to  lay  it  out.  It's  been  dead  long  enough."  At 
another  time,  according  to  Samuel  Breck,  who  chronicled 
a  good  many  of  the  judge's  jeucc  d'esjmt,  a  very  fat  and 
a  very  slim  man  stood  at  the  entrance  of  a  door  into  which 
his  honour  wished  to  pass.  He  stopped  for  a  moment  for 
them  to  make  way,  but  perceiving  they  were  not  inclined 
to  move,  and  being  lU'ged  by  the  master  of  the  house  to 
come  in,  he  pushed  on  between  them,  exclaiming,  "  Here 
I  go  then,  through  thick  and  thin." 

Judge  Peters  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture,  the  first  agri- 
cultural society  in  America.  From  the  farm  at  Belmont 
came  many  model  things.  Dairying  among  other  matters 
came  in  for  a  share  of  attention  and  Belmont  butter 
found  its  way  to  market  put  up  in  one  pound  packages. 
Unfortunately  for  the  judge,  his  one  pound  weight,  ac- 
cording to  a  new  assize  of  weights  and  measures,  was  too 
light,  and  the  whole  consignment  was  seized  by  the  in- 
spector and  confiscated  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor.  The 
judge  then  sent  his  old  weight  to  be  examined  and  cor- 
rected by  the  standard,  and  when  it  was  returned  the  let- 
ters "  C.  P.  "  (for  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania)  were 
stamped  upon  it.  The  servant  who  brought  it  back  car- 
ried it  at  once  to  the  judge,  who  was  at  dinner  with  a 
party  of  friends.  Taking  it  he  carefully  inspected  it  and 
looking  gravely  at  his  wife,  said,  as  he  held  it  up  for  her 
to  see,  "  My  dear,  they  have  at  last  found  us  out.  Here 
is  the  old  weight  come  back  with  C.  P.  stamped  in  it 
which  can  stand  for  nothing  in  the  world  ])ut  Cheating 
Peters." 

148 


BELMONT 


Although  the  surroundings  of  Belmont  were  unusually 
beautiful,  so  that  the  French  traveller,  Chastellux,  was 
quite  warranted  in  his  remark  about  the  place  being  a 
"  tasty  little  box  in  the  most  charming  spot  Nature  could 
embellish,"  the  fields  often  presented  a  shabby  appear- 
ance, for  the  judge  was  so  occupied  with  public  affairs 
and  also  with  agricultural  experiments  that  he  had  little 
time  to  devote  to  the  practical  management  of  his  farm- 
ing operations.  One  day  an  old  German,  who  had  often 
read  the  judge's  agricultural  reports,  made  a  pilgrimage 
to  Belmont.  He  found  the  gate  without  hinges,  fences 
dilapidated,  and  the  crops  not  equal  to  his  own.  When 
the  judge  came  out  to  speak  to  him,  the  rustic  bluntly  ex- 
pressed his  disappointment  at  the  appearance  of  the  place. 
"  How  can  you  expect  me,"  said  the  judge,  *'  to  attend  to 
all  these  things  when  my  time  is  so  taken  up  in  telling 
others  how  to  farm?"  The  old  German  was  disgusted 
and  drove  away  without  asking  any  more  questions. 

Judge  Peters  was  one  of  the  courtliest  of  men  and  re- 
tained the  ancient  mode  of  dress  long  after  others  had 
abandoned  it.  To  his  dying  day  he  wore  knee-breeches 
and  silver  buckles  on  his  shoes,  always  powdered  his  hair 
and  dressed  it  in  a  queue.  An  old  friend  of  the  family, 
]Miss  ^lolly  Delaney,  was  wont  to  perform  the  service 
of  queue  dressing  for  him  every  morning.  After  his 
death  in  1828  Belmont  remained  in  possession  of  the  fam- 
ily but  played  no  prominent  part  in  the  social  life  of  the 
period.  It  was  sold  to  the  city  for  incorporation  in  the 
park  in  1867. 


PENCOYD 

BALA,  LOWER  MERION  TOWNSHIP.  MONTGOMERY 

ROBERTS 


f)  UST  beyond  city  line,  about  half  a 
mile  from  Bala  station,  at  the  break 
of  the  hill  that  goes  down  to  Pen- 
coyd  Bridge  over  the  Schuylkill,  is 
Pencoyd,  built  in  1683,  one  of  the 
earliest  houses  in  the  Welsh  Barony, 
u  Pencoyd  means  "  head  of  the  woods," 
and  was  so  named  bj^  the  Colonist  John  Roberts,  presum- 
ably either  because  the  woods  on  the  slope  from  the  river 
ended  there  or  else  because  the  land  was  a  -wooded 
headland. 

The  entire  four  walls  of  the  old  house,  tw^o  feet  thick, 
are  still  standing  though  hidden  in  part  by  later  addi- 
tions. The  material  of  the  structure  is  native  grey  field 
stone  of  varied  sizes — some  of  them  probably  turned  up 
in  the  course  of  clearing  the  fields — pointed  with  white 
mortar.  In  the  rear  of  the  house  still  remain  marks  of 
old  mud  plaster,  and  until  fifty  years  ago  there  was  a 
XJortion  of  the  log  cabin  standing  that  doubtless  served 
John  Roberts  as  a  temporary  domicile  while  the  house 
was  a-building. 

John  Roberts,  of  Llanengwan,  in  the  parish  of  Lynn, 
near  Bala,  in  Wales,  came  over  in  1683,  and  before  his 
departure  received  a  grant  from  Penn  of  tw^elve  hundred 
acres.  He  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  INIerion  Town- 
ship, wliich  he  named  after  INIerionethshire,  the  county 
of  his  origin  in  Wales,  and  his  grant  in  the  Welsh  Tract 

150 


PENCOYD 


early  became  a  productive  plantation.  Not  many  years 
after  his  first  occupation  of  the  land,  he  wrote,  *'  What 
was  then  a  howling  wilderness  is  now  become,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  a  peaceful  and  fruitful  farm."  John 
Roberts  was  one  of  the  heads  of  Merion  Meeting  and  is 
buried  in  the  grounds  of  that  Meeting  House  which  was 
built  in  1695. 

Pencoyd  was  typical  of  the  plantations  throughout 
the  Welsh  Barony  which  extended  over  a  large  part  of 
what  is  now  Montgomery  County.  Here,  in  a  great 
stretch  of  wild  rolling  land  that  appealed  to  them  be- 
cause of  its  resemblance  to  their  dearly  loved  Cambrian 
Hills,  the  Welsh  people  settled  near  one  another  and 
chose  to  live  quite  apart  and  aloof  from  the  Colonists 
of  other  nationalities.  Even  now,  under  a  grey  Novem- 
ber sky,  when  the  freshening  winds  of  autumn  rustle  the 
seared  oak  leaves,  a  wild  Cymric  spirit  seems  to  sweep 
through  the  air  calling  back  half-legendary  memories. 
For  a  long  time  the  Welsh  settlers  had  their  own  courts, 
their  own  customs,  their  o\^^l  churches  and  meetings,  and 
jealously  preserved  the  use  of  the  Welsh  tongue  both 
in  public  and  private  but,  as  the  years  passed,  intercourse 
with  their  non-Gaelic  neighbours  increased  and  they  were 
ultimately  assimilated  by  the  more  numerous  element, 
contributing,  however,  one  of  the  best  and  strongest 
strains  to  the  State's  population. 

Robert  Roberts,  whose  pistols  and  powder-horn  are 
still  kept  at  Pencoyd,  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Algernon 
Roberts,  both  served  with  distinction  in  the  American 
army  during  the  Revolution ;  the  latter  was  a  warm  friend 

151 


(Ol.OXIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

of  his  near  neighbour,  Judge  Peters  of  Belmont,  between 
whose  place  and  Pencoyd  there  was  much  visiting  back 
and  forth.  Since  the  date  of  the  original  grant  Pencoj'd 
has  never  been  sold  nor  deeded,  but  has  always  passed 
by  will  from  owner  to  owner.  At  this  time  the  ninth 
generation  of  Robertses  is  living  in  the  house  that  the 
Colonist  John  builded  in  1683. 


WYNNESTAY 

WYNNEFIELD,  WEST  PHILADELPHIA 
WYNNE— SMEDLEY 


l^gfg^  HOMAS  WYNNE,  chirurgeon, 
came  over  in  the  Welcome  with 
his  friend  William  Penn.  He  was 
the  son  of  Thomas  Ap  John 
Wynne  of  the  parish  of  Yskeiviog, 
Flintshire,  Wales,  and  lived  at 
Brenvedog. 

The  Wynnes  trace  their  ancestry  to  Ednowain  Ben- 
dow,  Lord  of  Tegaingl,  a  district  of  Flintshire,  and  chief 
of  the  fifteenth  Noble  Tribe  of  North  Wales  in  1079. 
Thomas  was  baptised  July  20,  1627,  and  early  in  youth 
wished  to  be  a  physician.  The  loss  of  his  father  when 
he  was  eleven  years  old  caused  such  financial  stress  in 
the  family  that  he  was  compelled  to  forego  this  desire  for 
a  time  and  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  cooper.  In  1655  he 
married  Martha  Buttall  of  Wrexham,  by  whom  came  all 
his  children.  She  died  in  1670,  and  he  married  Elizabeth 
Row^den,  who  died  in  1676,  and  lastly,  Elizabeth  jNIaule, 
who  survived  him.  At  the  first  opportunity  he  sought 
out  Richard  Moore,  of  Salop,  "  a  good  Artist  in  Chyrur- 
gery,"  and  Doctors  Needham  and  Hollins,  anatomists. 
He  was  one  of  the  early  converts  to  the  Society  of 
Friends  and  became  an  eminent  minister,  suffering  im- 
prisonment at  Denbigh  for  six  years.  In  1677  he  pub- 
lished a  pamphlet  entitled: 


The  Antiquity  of  the  Quakers,  proved  out  of  the  Scriptures 
of  Truth.    Published  in  Love  to  the  Papists,  Protestants,  Presby- 

153 


(OLOMAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


tcrinns,  Iiulopendcnts  and  Anabaptists.  With  a  Salutation  of 
Pure  Love  to  all  the  Tender-hearted  Welshmen.  But  more  es- 
pecially to  Flintshire,  Dcnbigshire,  Caernarvonshire  and  Anglesea. 
By  their  Countryman  and  Friend  Thomas  Wynne. 

Besides  the  English  part,  this  address  contains  two 
pages  in  Welsh.  It  was  replied  to  by  a  Welshman  named 
^^"illianl  Jones,  and  in  1679  Thomas  broke  out  again  in 

An  Anti-Christian  Conspiracy  Detected  and  Satan's  Cham- 
pion Defeated.  Being  a  Reply  to  an  Envious  and  Scurrilous 
Libel,  without  any  name  to  it,  called  work  for  a  cooper,  Being 
also  a  vindication  of  my  Book  entitled  The  Antiquity  of  the 
Quakers.  From  the  base  Insinuations,  False  Doctrine  and  False 
Charge  therein  contained  against  me,  my  Book  and  against  God's 
People,  called  Quakers  in  general,  by  me  Thomas  AVynne. 

Thomas  Wynne  and  John  Ap  John,  for  themselves 
and  as  trustees  for  others,  purchased  five  thousand  acres 
of  the  Welsh  Barony  from  Penn  and  came  over  with  him 
in  1682,  Dr.  Wynne  finding  ample  practice  for  his  pro- 
fession in  the  outbreak  of  smallpox  which  occurred  on 
the  Welcome.  His  house  in  Front  above  Chestnut 
Street  was  one  of  the  first  brick  houses  in  Philadelphia, 
and  Chestnut  Street  was  originally  called  Wynne  Street. 
In  1684,  with  the  approval  of  his  jNIonthly  Meeting,  he 
returned  to  England,  probably  with  William  Penn  in  the 
ketch  Endeavour.  Coming  again  to  America  he  lived  at 
Lewes,  Delaware,  where,  in  1688,  he  was  associate- justice 
of  Sussex  County.  He  had  been  its  representative  in 
the  first  Assembly  held  at  Philadelphia  January  12,  1683, 
and  was  chosen  the  first  speaker,  receiving  the  charter  of 
the  Colony  from  William  Penn  April  2,  1683.     Friends 

154 


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WYNNESTAY 


appointed  him  as  one  to  prepare  an  account  of  the  order 
of  the  Society  of  Friends  in  the  meetings  for  discipline 
in  England  and  for  government  of  meetings  here  and 
also  one  of  a  committee  to  select  the  site  and  to  build  the 
Bank  Meeting  House  near  Front  and  Arch  Streets, 
erected  in  1685. 

At  about  the  centre  of  the  five  thousand  acres  pur- 
chased and  alonff  the  line  of  what  was  afterward  the  old 
Lancaster  Road,  Wynnestay  was  built,  the  older  part  be- 
ing erected  in  1689  as  is  inscribed  on  a  wade  joint  of  mortar 
in  the  gable  end.  The  other  end  was  built  in  1700,  and 
wliile  it  is  doubtful  whether  Doctor  Wjmne  lived  in 
the  house  it  is  known  that  his  only  son  Jonathan  lived 
there  and  it  was  probably  erected  for  him.  Doctor 
Wynne  died  in  1692  and  the  estate  went  to  Jonathan 
and  his  wife,  who  was  Sarah  Greaves  and  whom  he  had 
married  in  1694. 

The  house  is  now  located  at  Fifty-second  and  Wood- 
bine Avenue  in  the  Thirty-fourth  ward  of  Philadelphia, 
and  the  land  of  the  Wynnes  is  now  largely  in  Fairmount 
Park,  in  the  George's  Hill  section,  and  where  the  centen- 
nial buildings  of  1876  stood.  The  first  house  was  a  two- 
storey  stone  building  with  a  single  room  on  each  floor  and 
a  pent  roof  above  the  first.  The  second  part  was  a  trifle 
higher  than  the  first,  but  a  new  roof,  which  is  the  only 
change,  has  put  all  on  a  level.  There  is  a  new  wing  now, 
in  the  rear,  built  in  conformity  with  the  original  and  the 
fences  surrounding  it  have  given  way  to  hedges.  The 
nine  Lombardy  poplars,  five  running  parallel  to  the 
south  front  of  the  house  and  four  at  a  right  angle,  have 
gone. 

155 


COT.ONTAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

Jonathan  Wynne  was  succeeded  at  Wynnestay  by 
his  son  Thomas,  who  married  ^lary  Warner  in  1722. 
Their  son  Thomas,  who  married  Margaret  Coulton,  was 
the  next  owner.  At  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  with 
England  he  was  taken  prisoner  and  remained  in  captiv- 
ity until  1781.  His  wife  and  children  remained  at 
AVynnestay  and  bravely  resisted  the  harassing  British 
soldiery.  Thomas  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  "  Flying 
Camp  "  under  command  of  Colonel  Lambert  Cadwalader 
and  was  captured  at  Fort  Washington  on  the  Hudson. 

A  skirmish  occurred  at  the  Black  Horse  Tavern,  near 
Wynnestay,  and  during  one  of  the  excursions  of  a  Brit- 
ish troop  some  of  them  attempted  to  steal  all  the  eatables, 
but  Margaret  Coulton  Wynne  resisted  them  until  a  de- 
tachment of  Continentals  under  Potter  came  up  and  drove 
them  off,  killing  three  who  are  buried  in  the  lawn.  Many 
bullets  and  cannon  balls  found  in  the  grounds  prove  the 
troublous  times  that  surrounded  the  little  familv  then. 
In  1782  Thomas  was  dead  and  his  son  Thomas  took  pos- 
session with  his  wife,  who  was  Elizabeth  Reese.  He  ran 
away  to  the  army  when  fourteen,  but  returned  after  three 
months.  After  them  came  the  son  Samuel,  who  married 
Phoebe  Sharp  from  Cumberland  County,  New  Jersey, 
and  then  their  son  Joseph  whose  wife  was  Elizabeth  N. 
Matlock. 

The  eighth  generation  and  the  last  of  the  name  to 
live  in  the  house  was  the  present  Thomas  Wynne,  and 
from  the  heirs  of  Samuel  Wynne  the  estate  was  sold, 
about  1872,  to  the  Smedley  family  who  now  own  it  and 
preserve  it  in  splendid  condition.     There  is  only  about 

156 


WYNNESTAY 


an  acre  of  open  ground  surrounding  the  house  and  the 
present  pretty  suburb  of  Wynnefield  has  sprung  up  about 
it.  Thomas  Wynne  still  sits  in  the  gallery  of  ^lerion 
Meeting,  as  his  ancestors  have  done  before  him,  and  takes 
an  active  interest  in  the  concerns  of  the  Society  of  Friends. 
Descendants  of  Doctor  Thomas  Wynne  are  num- 
bered among  the  families  of  Cook,  Wister,  Cadwalader, 
and  Roberts,  and  the  family  name  has  been  made  widely 
known  by  Doctor  S.  Weir  aMitchell's  novel,  "  Hugh 
Wynne." 


THE  GRANGE 

nAVKIirOHD  TOWNSHIP,  MONTGOMERY 

LEWIS— WILCOX— CRUICKSHANK— ROSS— BRINTON— 

EYRE— ASHHURST 


X  the  year  of  grace  1682  Henry 
Lewis,  a  Welsh  Quaker,  established 
himself  in  Haverford  Township, 
then  Chester,  now  Delaware  County, 
on  the  banks  of  Cobb's  Creek  near 
the  city  line  and  the  present  Old 
Haverford  Road,  and  named  his 
estate  Maen-Cocli.  He  shortly  built  a  substantial  stone 
house  that  afterward  became  a  part  of  Clifton  Hall, 
as  the  estate  was  called  by  a  subsequent  owner  and 
so  styled  until  it  received  the  title  of  the  Grange  in  1780. 
About  seven  miles  from  the  old  Court  House  at  Second 
and  Market  Streets,  this  abode  of  Henry  Lewis  was  then 
in  the  depths  of  the  wilderness  and  even  now  after  the 
lapse  of  more  than  two  centuries  it  enjoys  a  measure  of 
rural  seclusion  that  is  scarcely  to  be  looked  for  in  a  place 
so  near  the  city. 

Under  a  succession  of  o^\Tiers  Maen-Coch,  Clifton 
Hall,  or  the  Grange,  experienced  many  vicissitudes  of  ad- 
dition and  embellishment  until  in  late  Colonial  times  it 
became  one  of  the  most  justly  celebrated  seats  in  the 
vicinity  of  Philadelphia  and  so  remained  until  a  very  few 
years  ago.  Now,  shorn  of  its  former  honours,  deserted, 
dilapidated,  overgrown,  with  rank  weeds  profanely  en- 
croaching on  its  once  faultless  walks  and  borders,  and  an 
unrestrained  confusion  of  lawful  growths  jostling  each 
other  in  unkempt  array,  the  Grange  yet  maintains  a  cer- 

158 


THE   GRANGE 


tain  steadfast  dignity  of  mien  that,  in  its  day  of  de- 
cadence, seems  to  bespeak  a  proud  consciousness  of  its 
former  high  estate  and  a  determination  to  preserve  to 
the  end  an  unruffled  exterior,  come  what  may,  like  a  thing 
of  truly  gentle  race  enduring  the  bufFetings  of  the  storms 
of  misfortune.  Despite  the  alterations  made  after  the 
Civil  War,  alterations  that  destroyed  its  Georgian  aspect, 
on  account  of  which  in  part  no  illustrations  are  given,  it 
is  unquestionably  one  of  the  great  houses  of  the  country, 
where  from  earliest  Colonial  times  lavish  hospitality  was 
wont  to  be  dispensed  and  the  most  honourable  and  notable 
men  of  their  several  generations  were  entertained. 

The  aforesaid  Henry  Lewis,  being  one  of  the  most 
staid  and  straight-laced  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
carefullv  eschewed  all  outward  display  and  contented 
himself  with  an  unpretentious  dwelling  of  modest  dimen- 
sions. He,  and  his  son  Henry  after  him,  lived  for  many 
years  in  what  is  now  the  rear  portion  of  the  house.  About 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  we  find  the  estate 
in  the  possession  of  a  Captain  John  Wilcox,  who  en- 
larged the  house,  adding  all  or  nearly  all  of  the  front 
part,  and  changed  the  name  to  Clifton  Hall.  Tradition 
has  it  that  Captain  Wilcox  surrounded  his  broad  lands 
with  a  ditch  of  some  depth  which  he  caused  to  be  digged 
by  his  negro  slaves  of  whom  he  had  a  considerable  num- 
ber. It  is  said  that  he  devised  this  scheme  for  keeping 
tliem  employed  and  out  of  mischief  when  there  was  noth- 
ing else  to  be  done.  In  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
traces  of  this  ditch  were  still  discernible. 

About  1760  Captain  Charles  Cruickshank,  a  Scotch 
gentleman  of  wealth,  came  to  America  and  in  1761  pur- 

159 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


chased  Clifton  Hall  from  Captain  Wilcox.  He  indulged 
in  various  enlargements  and  modifications  of  the  mansion, 
though  in  exactly  what  respects  it  is  scarcely  possible  to 
say.  He  was  a  person  of  cultivated  tastes  and  ap- 
pears to  have  had  a  strong  bent  for  gardening,  for  it  was 
at  this  period  that  the  terraced  walks  were  cut,  the  green- 
houses and  hothouses  established  and  the  "  natural 
beauties  of  the  place  .  .  .  developed  by  the  appliances 
of  art."  The  landscape  gardening  begun  by  Captain 
Cruickshank  and  continued  by  succeeding  owners  has 
given  the  Grange  a  position  in  this  respect  unexcelled 
in  all  the  surrounding  country.  Captain  Cruickshank 
also  added  to  the  acres  of  Clifton  Hall. 

On  December  8,  1768,  John  Ross,  another  Scotch- 
man afterward  extensively  engaged  in  Philadelphia  as 
an  East  India  merchant  and  shipowner,  married  Clemen- 
tina, the  daughter  of  Captain  Cruickshank,  the  wedding 
taking  place  at  the  Grange,  or  Clifton  Hall  as  it  was 
then  called.  During  and  after  the  Revolutionary  War, 
John  Ross  was  a  prominent  figure  in  the  counsels  of  the 
infant  nation  and  in  the  conduct  of  affairs.  His  devo- 
tion to  the  American  cause  cost  him  dear  and  very  nearly 
ruined  him,  for  in  ready  response  to  an  order  from  Con- 
gress's Committee  of  Commerce  in  May,  1776,  "  to  pro- 
cure cloths  [sic],  arms  and  powder  for  the  use  of  the 
army,"  he  spent  far  more  than  the  trifling  and  inadequate 
sum  the  commissioners  were  then  able  to  put  at  his  dis- 
posal. His  outlay  for  the  army  on  the  guarantee  of  his 
personal  responsibility  amounted  to  twenty  thousand 
pounds.  This  advance  he  could  never  fully  recover  and 
for  a  considerable  time  he  was  in  sore  straits.    Eventually, 

ICO 


THE   GRANGE 


however,  fortune  shone  upon  him  and  his  resources  in- 
creased so  that  in  1783,  when  Captain  Cruickshank  re- 
turned to  Scotland,  he  was  able  to  buy  the  Grange,  so 
rechristened  in  1780  in  honour  of  the  Marquis  de 
Lafayette,  whose  home  in  France  bore  that  name. 

Mr.  Ross  continued  the  adornment  of  the  grounds  be- 
gun by  his  father-in-laAv,  enlarged  the  boundaries  of  the 
estate,  and  made  sundry  additions  to  the  buildings.  In 
the  post-Revolutionary  period  the  Grange  was  in  the 
heyday  of  its  magnificence.  Miss  Elizabeth  Mifflin,  a 
granddaughter  of  John  Ross,  left  a  manuscript  account 
of  the  Grange  and  the  manner  of  life  there,  based  on 
the  authority  of  her  sister,  an  eye-witness.  To  quote  in 
part,  she  says: 

Nothing  could  be  more  picturesque,  beautiful  and  elegant 
than  this  highly  favoured  spot.  The  gardens,  the  fountain,  tlie 
Bath  in  a  private  garden  with  walks,  skirted  with  boxwood  and 
the  trumpet  creeper  in  rich  luxuriance  overhanging  the  door  and 
gateways,  where  the  water  was  so  intensely  cold  that  few  entered 
in.  The  Green-houses  and  Hothouses,  the  Dairy,  the  extensive 
orchards  of  every  variety  of  fruit;  and  then  the  long,  dark  walk 
%'s  of  a  mile  in  extent,  shaded  by  tall  forest  trees,  and  where 
the  Tulip  poplar  abounded,  and  where  the  sun  scarcely  dared  to 
penetrate.  On  one  side  a  ravine  through  which  a  creek  flowed 
gurgling  and  reflecting  the  sun  beams  shut  out  from  the  dark 
walk,  with  the  sloping  meadows  beyond,  all  presenting  a  picture 
never  to  be  forgotten.  Near  the  beginning  of  this  dark  walk 
Mr.  Ross  had  caused  to  be  constructed,  on  a  spot  ten  or  twelve 
feet  above  the  walk,  a  semi-circular  seat  capable  of  holding  twenty 
persons  and  a  place  for  a  table.  On  the  4th  of  July  and  other 
warm  days  of  summer  he  would  take  his  friends  there  and  iced 
11  161 


(OLOXIAL    IIOMKS   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


wines  would  be  served.  A  bell  wire,  communicating  with  the 
house,  was  arranged  to  call  the  servant  when  wanted  and  avoid 
his  constant  presence.  No  roses  nor  honeysuckles  were  so  beau- 
tiful and  fragrant  as  those  from  The  Grange;  no  strawberries 
and  cherries,  no  pears,  peaches,  apples  and  quinces  so  fine.  The 
place  was  in  the  highest  state  of  cultivation,  the  grass  and  grain 
crops  unrivalled  in  the  neighbourhood  and  really  nothing  was 
left  undone  to  contribute  to  the  beauties  and  luxuries  with  which 
the  Grange  abounded. 

A  glowing  eulogy  surely,  but  fully  deserved.  ISliss 
jNIifflin's  words  could  quite  as  fittingly  be  applied  to  con- 
ditions at  a  later  date.  She  might  have  added  that  the 
house  is  approached  from  the  road  by  a  broad  avenue  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  in  length,  shaded  by  great  over-arching 
trees. 

The  manuscript  record  goes  on  to  say  of  Mr.  Ross 
that  "  his  house  was  always  open  and  his  hospitable  table 
prepared  to  receive  his  friends."  Washington,  Franklin, 
Generals  Knox  and  Mifflin,  Robert  Morris,  the  Due 
d'Orleans,  Lafayette,  Marbois,  Talleyrand,  Volney, 
"  and  all  the  prominent  people  of  that  day  which  abounded 
with  great  men  "  were  visitors,  and  some  of  them  fre- 
quent visitors  at  the  Grange.  Mr.  Ross  knew  the  value 
of  good  dinners  as  adjuncts  to  pleasant  social  intercourse. 
He  was  noted  not  only  for  the  excellent  quality  of  his 
uincs  and  the  lavish  quantity  in  which  they  were  set  forth 
bv.l  Also  for  the  superiority  of  the  viands  that  graced  his 
board  and  the  guests  who  sat  down  at  the  Grange  table 
could  always  be  sure  of  finding  the  best  that  kitchen  or 
cellar  could  offer.  The  story  goes  that  the  Father  of 
his  Country  on  one  occasion  having  dined  at  the  Grange 

1G2 


THE   GRANGE 


not  wisely,  perhaps,  but  too  well,  collided  violently  with 
one  of  the  gateposts  on  leaving  the  grounds.  It  is  al- 
ways a  satisfaction  to  recall  any  anecdote  that  shows 
General  Washing-ton  as  a  man  of  real  flesh  and  blood, 
of  like  passions  with  ourselves,  and  not  as  an  impassive 
human  iceberg,  the  image  so  many  school-books  errone- 
ously hold  up  for  emulation.  In  fairness  to  the  General, 
however,  be  it  said  that  the  far  end  of  the  avenue  is  verv 
dark  with  overhanging  trees.  That  Mr.  Ross's  guests 
were  appreciative  of  the  culinary  efforts  of  the  Grange 
cook  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  incident:  After 
]Mr.  Ross's  death  in  1806,  when  the  estate  was  found  to 
be  much  embarrassed  and  it  became  imperative  to  cur- 
tail expenditures  materially,  the  departing  cook,  a  high- 
priced  functionary,  was  seen  directing  the  removal  of  a 
large  and  heavy  trunk  from  the  premises.  On  investiga- 
tion it  proved  that  the  trunk  was  full  of  Spanish  dollars 
given  by  visitors  in  recognition  of  tickled  palates  and 
carefulh^  hoarded  against  a  rainy  day. 

Mr.  Ross's  executor  sold  the  Grange  in  1810  to  John 
H.  Brinton  and  after  Mr.  Brinton's  death  in  1816, 
Manuel  Eyre  became  the  owner  and  occupied  the  house 
till  his  death  in  1845.  jNIr.  Eyre  changed  the  bath  of 
former  days,  situated  at  a  corner  of  the  walled  garden 
or  the  Dutch  garden  as  it  is  often  called,  and  made  a 
schoolhouse  of  it  for  his  children.  The  schoolroom  was 
on  the  first  floor  and  on  the  second  lived  the  tutor. 

In  1849  Mr.  Eyre's  son-in-law,  John  Ashhurst,  ac- 
quired the  property  and  lived  there,  and  after  him  mem- 
bers of  his  family  held  it  till  recent  years.  In  1850  ow- 
ing to  the  decayed  condition  of  much  of  the  fabric,  ISIr. 

163 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PIIILADELPinA 


Ashliiirst  found  it  necessary  to  engage  in  such  extensive 
repairs  that  lie  practically  rehuilt  the  house,  covering  the 
stone  walls  with  stucco,  adding  porches,  and  imparting  its 
present  English  Gothic  appearance.  Having  no  use  for 
the  bath  turned  into  a  schoolroom,  he  battered  it  partly 
do'VMi,  making  an  artificial  ruin,  and  harnessed  the  foun- 
tain, that  originally  supplied  the  bath,  to  a  waterwheel 
that  now  forces  the  supply  into  the  house.  After  the 
Civil  War,  ]\Ir.  Ashhurst  built  the  porte-cochere  and  the 
wing  abutting  on  the  walled  garden.  He  also  took  great 
interest  in  landscape  gardening  and  largely  increased  the 
number  of  rare  and  valuable  trees  and  shrubs  on  the 
estate. 

The  Grange  represents  nearly  two  centuries  of 
growth  as  far  as  the  house  itself  is  concerned  and  more 
than  that  with  respect  to  the  gardens.  Such  a  setting 
for  a  country  home  it  would  be  impossible  to  create  with- 
out the  aid  of  years.  On  every  hand  great  box  trees  at- 
test the  age  of  the  place  and  the  lilacs  and  sjTingas, 
grown  into  trees,  proclaim  the  lapse  of  summers  since 
first  they  were  set  out.  The  slow-growing  yew  refuses 
to  be  hurried  and  attains  robust  proportions  only  in  the 
course  of  many  seasons.  The  terraced  garden,  too,  shows 
frequent  traces  of  great  age  and  the  ivy,  covering  the 
stable  wall  that  forms  a  sheltering  backgi'ound,  proves 
the  flight  of  years  by  the  thickness  of  its  matted  stems. 
Outside  the  garden,  hawthornes,  here  and  there  become 
tree-high,  tell  you  they  are  not  of  yesterday's  planting. 
No  matter  which  way  one  turns  the  evidences  of  care 
and  well-considered  purpose  through  long  periods  of  time 
are  evervwhere  to  be  seen.     All  these  marks  of  man's 

164 


THE   GRANGE 


long-standing  design  set  among  venerable  trees  left  from 
the  primeval  forest  cast  around  an  air  of  antiquity  that 
impresses  even  the  most  thoughtless. 

At  a  fork  of  the  driveway  some  little  distance  below 
the  house  is  a  "  William  Penn  Milestone  "  with  the  Pro- 
prietary's coat-of-arms  on  one  side  and  the  figure  5  on 
the  reverse.  It  formerly  stood  on  the  Old  Haverford 
Road  where  it  was  placed  in  1793  and  was  moved  hither 
by  Mr.  Ashhurst  as  a  matter  of  antiquarian  interest 
when  the  road  authorities  w^ere  none  too  careful  about  the 
preservation  of  these  ancient  landmarks.  Higher  up  the 
hill  behind  the  house  stands  the  historic  Bell  Tree,  a 
great  black  walnut  fourteen  feet  in  girth,  where  hung  in 
Captain  Wilcox's  day,  nearly  two  hundred  years  ago,  a 
bell  used  to  summon  the  slaves  at  meal  times  and  when 
their  day's  work  was  done.  Nowhere  else  are  such  splen- 
did specimens  of  box  to  be  seen  in  such  profusion.  The 
gardens  and  pleasure  grounds  would  delight  the  hearts 
of  tree  lovers.  The  tulips,  the  horse  chestnuts,  the  dog- 
woods, the  magnolias,  the  spruce,  and  the  fir,  with  a  hun- 
dred others,  noble-sized  trees  every  one  of  them,  unite  to 
make  the  spot  one  of  the  most  delightful  places 
imaginable. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  all  its  owners  and  their  families, 
aye  and  their  friends  too,  have  loved  it  with  an  intense 
devotion.  The  Grange  takes  a  strong  hold  on  one's  heart- 
strings and  never  lets  go.  The  stately  avenue  has  been 
cut  in  two  by  an  intruding  railroad,  the  rustic  bower  in 
the  dark  walk  where  John  Ross  was  wont  to  entertain 
the  Revolutionary  worthies  is  gone,  cut  through  by  the 
same  railroad,  the  old  walled  garden  where  the  dainty 

165 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


lilies  of  the  valley  used  to  spring  in  prodigal  abundance  is 
overgrown  with  fern  and  weeds  and  the  box  borders  long 
unpriined  have  almost  obliterated  the  pathway  they  were 
meant  to  mark,  but  still  the  ancient  low-browed  Grange, 
so  like  an  old  French  house  with  its  square,  heavy-mul- 
lioned  casement  windows,  staunchly  bears  the  burden  of 
its  years  and  there  is  still  enough  beauty  and  charm  left, 
even  though  its  borders  have  been  narrowed,  to  satisfy 
even  the  critical. 


HARRITON 

LOWER  MERION  TOWNSHIP,  MONTGOMERY 
ELLIS— HARRISON— THOMSON— MORRIS— VAUX 


NE  of  the  oldest  seats  near  Phila- 
delphia is  Harriton  on  the  Gulf  Road 
about  half  a  mile  from  Bryn  ]\Iawr 
in  Lower  Merion  Township,  JNIont- 
gomery  County.  It  was  built  in 
1704  by  Rowland  Ellis,  one  of  the 
settlers  in  the  Welsh  Barony,  and 
has  endured  comparatively  little  changed  to  the  pres- 
ent time.  The  house,  two  storeys  in  height  with  a  high 
pitched  roof  lighted  by  dormers,  is  T  shaped,  substantially 
built  of  native  grey  field  stone.  Its  lines  and  general  as- 
pect, as  might  be  expected,  show  all  the  little  character- 
istic peculiarities  of  the  type  usually  found  in  the  build- 
ings erected  by  the  Welsh  settlers.  It  might  he  said  they 
spoke  in  Georgian  with  a  Welsh  accent. 

The  main  part  of  the  house  is  thirty-seven  feet  long 
and  twenty-two  in  depth,  while  the  wing  in  the  middle 
of  the  rear  is  twenty-two  by  nineteen  feet — a  large  house 
for  the  Colonists  of  those  early  days,  but  the  Welsh  al- 
w^aj^s  liked  large  houses.  The  house-door  admits  directly 
to  a  great  living-room  into  which  a  smaller  parlour  opens. 
The  dining-room,  stairway,  and  kitchens  are  in  the  rear. 
In  1719  Richard  Harrison,  the  son-in-law  of  Isaac 
Norris,  came  hither  from  Maryland  and  bought  the  es- 
tate from  the  Ellises.  In  1774  Hannah  Harrison,  the 
daughter  of  Richard  and  Hannah  Norris  Harrison  and 
heiress  to  the  Harriton  estate,  then  in  her  forty-seventh 

167 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPIHA 

year,  was  married  to  Charles  Thomson,  a  widower  of 
fortv-five,  wlioni  John  Adams  called  the  "  Sam  Adams 
of  l*hiladelphia." 

Cliarles  Thomson  was  born  at  Maghera,  County 
Derry,  Ireland,  in  17*29,  and  when  eleven  years  old  came 
out  to  America  with  his  father,  brother,  and  three  sisters. 
The  father  died  on  the  way  over  and  the  five  children 
were  unceremoniously  put  off  at  Newcastle  by  the  cap- 
tain, who  wished  to  avoid  further  care  of  them.  By  the 
aid  of  the  friends  he  soon  made  for  himself  and  through 
his  quick  wit  and  indomitable  determination  to  succeed, 
he  supported  himself  and  gained  a  serviceable  education. 

In  1750  we  find  him  in  the  position  of  tutor  in  the 
College  of  Philadelphia,  and  for  some  years  thereafter 
he  gave  his  time  to  teaching.  Subsequently  he  became 
a  merchant  and  also  took  an  active  part  in  politics.  He 
was  a  politician  by  temperament  and  inevitably  gravi- 
tated into  political  prominence  in  the  years  that  were  to 
follow.  He  served  on  various  important  committees, 
signed  the  Non-Importation  Agreement  of  1765  and  in 
1774  became  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  for  the 
City  of  Philadelphia. 

L^pon  the  assembling  of  the  Continental  Congress  in 
Carpenters'  Hall,  a  secretary  was  required  who  was  not 
a  delegate.  Charles  Thomson  was  chosen  upon  the  nomi- 
nation of  Thomas  Mifflin.  He  had  just  married  Miss 
Harrison  and  on  the  very  morning  that  Congress  as- 
sembled, drove  in  to  the  city  with  her  from  Harriton,  on 
what  was  really  the  wedding  trip,  all  imconscious  of  the 
duties  awaiting  him.  As  he  stepped  out  of  the  "  chair  "  in 
which  they  were  riding,  a  messenger  came  up  bearing  the 

168 


HARRITON 


compliments  of  Peyton  Randolph,  president  of  the  Con- 
gress, and  desired  Mr.  Thomson's  inmiediate  attendance  at 
the  session  just  assembling.  Taking  a  hasty  leave  of  his 
bride,  he  went  at  once  to  discharge  his  new  office.  As  an 
amends  for  her  curtailed  bridal  tour  Congress  voted  Mrs. 
Thomson  a  present.  It  came  in  the  form  of  a  silver  urn 
which  has  been  proudly  treasured  ever  since. 

Mr.  Thomson  filled  the  secretaryship  so  ably  that  he 
continued  to  serve  Congress  in  that  capacity  for  fourteen 
years.  During  the  Revolutionary  struggle  and  the  in- 
fancy of  the  young  Republic  no  one  had  a  better  oppor- 
tunity than  he  to  know  all  the  inmost  details  of  all  that 
occurred.  He  was  strongly  urged  to  put  all  this  knowl- 
edge of  secret  history  into  permanent  form.  He  began 
the  task  but  saw,  as  he  progressed,  that  the  reputations 
of  so  many  men,  then  invested  with  the  halo  of  patriotism, 
would  be  hopelessly  blasted  that  he  gave  up  the  under- 
taking in  disgust  and  burned  all  his  papers. 

Charles  Thomson  continued  master  of  Harriton  till 
his  death  in  1824,  after  which  the  estate  descended  to 
Mrs.  Levi  JMorris,  a  relative  of  Mrs.  Thomson's,  from 
whom  it  passed  in  time  to  the  Vaux  family,  the  present 
possessors. 


WAYNESBOROUGH 

EASTTOWN  TOWNSHIP,  CHESTER 


WAYNESBOROUGH  is  situated  in 
the  Township  of  Easttown  and  the 
County  of  Chester,  within  two  miles 
of  Paoli  and  four  miles  of  Valley 
Forge.       It  was  the  countryseat  of 
Captain  Isaac  Wayne,  youngest  son 
of  Anthony  Wayne  wiio  went  from 
Yorkshire,  England,  to  County  Wicklow,  Ireland,  and 
commanded  a  troop  of  dragoons  at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne 
in  the  forces  of  William  III.    He  emigrated  to  Pennsyl- 
vania in  1722  and,  after  spending  two  3'ears  examining  the 
country,    purchased    sixteen    hundred    acres  in  Chester 
County  and  erected  his  house.    There  were  four  sons.     Of 
these  Isaac  owned  and  cultivated  the  five  hundred  acres  in 
Easttown   Township   still   constituting  Waynesborough. 
He  also  conducted  a  tannery  and  took  an  active  part  in 
the  political  controversies  of  the  times,  serving,  too,  as 
captain  in  the  French  and  Indian  War,  having  raised 
two  companies  to  fight  during  1755,  1757  and  1788.    He 
was  a  tall,  handsome  man,  of  soldierly  bearing,  blunt  in 
speech  after  the  fashion  of  those  much  in  garrison  life, 
a  good  horseman,  and  a  high  liver,  but  temperate.     He 
accumulated  a  large  estate  and  enlarged  the  house  at 
Waynesborough  considerably.     It  is  built  of  brown  ir- 
regular stone  with  white  pointing  and  has  a  wing  at  each 
end.     Over  the  doorway  is  a  hood  which  is  not  horizontal. 
A  carpenter  who  daily  passed  the  house  to  his  work  was 
so  disturbed  by  this  hood  that  he  offered  to  straighten 

170 


'  i       )     ,     3        * 

^  t       t       y     t 


l-H  M 

e  » 

n  o 

?  o 


WAYNESBOROUGH 


it  free  of  charge,  but  as  it  was  built  that  way,  Major 
William  Wayne  refused.  On  the  right  of  the  hall  is  the 
parlour  which  is  to-day  in  its  original  condition  and  just 
as  it  was  when  Lafayette  visited  the  house  in  1825. 
Over  the  beautiful  mantel  hang  General  Anthony 
Wayne's  swords  and  pistols  and  sash,  just  above  his  por- 
trait. Between  the  doorway  into  the  parlour  and  the 
stairway  in  the  rear  of  the  hall  are  two  folding,  latticed 
doors  attached  to  each  wall  and,  back  of  these,  one  passes 
into  what  is  now  the  living-room  with  its  huge  fireplace, 
on  the  one  side,  and  the  dining-room  on  the  other.  It 
was  once  the  custom  to  draw  the  trunks  of  trees  into  the 
fireplace  by  means  of  horses  and  chains,  there  being  an 
opening  under  the  windows  on  each  side  of  the  room.  Back 
of  the  house  is  a  huge  box-bush  where  the  British  sol- 
diers imagined  General  Wayne  had  taken  refuge  on  the 
night  of  the  Paoli  massacre,  three  miles  away.  Mrs. 
Wayne  saw  them  coming  down  the  road  and  exclaimed, 
"  Here  comes  the  General  now,"  but  it  was  not  he.  He 
was  too  busy  with  his  duty  as  a  soldier  in  getting  his 
command  away  in  safety  and  the  pursuing  redcoats,  sup- 
posing he  might  be  there  in  hiding,  ran  their  swords 
through  the  old  box-bush  in  vain. 

The  opponents  of  the  Proprietary  interests  elected 
Captain  Wayne  to  the  Provincial  Assembly  several  times 
and  he  is  portrayed  as  one  of  the  characters  in  the 
"  Chronicles  of  Nathan  Ben  Saddi,"  1758,  one  of  the 
most  spirited  bits  of  literature  the  American  Colonies 
produced.  His  activity  against  the  Proprietary  interests 
led  him  into  a  bitter  quarrel  with  Judge  JNIoore  of  Moore 
Hall,  an  old-time  aristocrat  and  a  pet  of  the  Governour. 

171 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

Isaac  \V^ayiie  was  an  earnest  and  loyal  churchman  and 
one  of*  the  supporters  of  old  St.  David's  Church  at  Rad- 
nor. His  wife  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Richard 
Iddings,  of  Chester  County. 

He  is  best  known,  however,  as  the  father  of  Anthony 
Wayne,  the  most  picturesque  figure  of  the  Revolution  and 
tlie  most  brilliant  soldier  Pennsylvania  has  produced. 

Anthony  Wayne  was  born  at  Waynesborough  Janu- 
ary 1,  1745,  and  grew  up  on  his  father's  acres  and  about 
the  tannery,  and  he  received  his  early  education  from 
his  uncle,  Gabriel  Wayne,  who  conducted  a  school  nearby. 
He  early  exhibited  the  qualities  which  shaped  his  career 
as  this  letter  from  his  schoolmaster  to  his  father  shows: 

I  really  expect  that  parental  affection  blinds  you,  and  that 
you  have  mistaken  your  son's  capacity.  What  he  may  be  best 
qualified  for,  I  know  not — one  tiling  I  am  certain  of,  he  will  never 
make  a  scholar;  he  may  perhaps  make  a  soldier;  he  has  already 
distracted  the  brains  of  two  thirds  of  the  boys  under  my  charge, 
by  rehearsals  of  battles,  sieges,  etc.  They  exhibit  more  the  ap- 
pearance of  Indians  and  Harlequins  than  students.  This  one 
decorated  with  a  cap  of  many  colours,  others  habited  in  coats  as 
variegated,  like  Joseph's  of  old — some  laid  up  with  broken  heads 
and  black  eyes.  During  noon,  in  place  of  the  usual  games  of 
amusement  he  has  the  boys  employed  in  throwing  up  redoubts, 
skirmishing,  etc.  I  must  be  candid  with  you  brother  Isaac — un- 
less Anthony  pays  more  attention  to  his  books,  I  shall  be  under 
the  painful  necessity  of  dismissing  him  from  the  school. 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1759  that  this  letter  was 
written  and  after  it  was  read  at  home  young  Wayne 
showed  one  other  mark  of  the  good  soldier — a  ready  sub- 
ordination to  authority.     His  father  ordered  him  to  re- 

172 


WAYNESBOROUGH 


turn  to  school  and  devote  his  time  to  his  studies  instead 
of  mimic  war,  and  he  did  it.  At  the  end  of  eighteen 
months,  his  uncle  acknowledged  that  he  could  instruct 
him  no  further. 

His  bent  was  for  mathematics  and  he  spent  two  j^ears, 
1763-66,  studying  surveying  at  the  Academy  in  Phila- 
delphia, which  is  now  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
An  elaborate  and  artistic  survey  of  Vincent  Township, 
Chester  County,  made  by  him,  is  now  at  the  Pennsylvania 
Historical  Society. 

An  indication  as  to  his  associates,  and  no  doubt  visi- 
tors at  Waynesborough,  can  be  gathered  from  the  fact 
that  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  in  1765  he  joined  ^vith 
Matthew  Clarkson,  John  Hughes,  William  Smith,  the 
creator  of  the  University,  William  Moore  of  Moore  Hall, 
Joseph  Richardson,  captain  in  the  French  and  Indian 
War,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Israel  Jacobs,  afterward  a 
member  of  Congress,  and  others  of  the  leading  men  of 
the  Province  in  an  effort  to  found  a  colony  in  Canada. 
He  went  to  Canada  as  the  surveyor  of  the  company  and 
spent  the  summers  of  1765  and  1766  there.  Thus  began 
the  active  career  which  kept  him  much  from  home  in  the 
public  service.  His  neighbours  sent  him  to  several  of  the 
conventions  which  took  the  preliminary  steps  leading  up 
to  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  we  can  picture  many  an 
important  conference  at  Waynesborough  in  these  stir- 
ring times.  From  the  head  of  the  Chester  County  Com- 
mittee, Wayne  was  promoted  to  a  place  on  the  Colonial 
Committee  of  Safety  by  the  resolution  of  the  Provincial 
Assembly  June  30,  1775,  together  with  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin, John  Dickinson,  and  Robert  Morris.     The  resolu- 

I7;j 


COLONIAL   I10MP:S   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


tioiis  place  the  word  "  Gentlemen  "  at  the  end  of  the  list 
of  names.  For  three  years  he  sat  in  the  Assembly  and 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania  Convention  which 
later  ratified  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  In 
1775  the  soldier's  instinct  plunged  him  into  the  conflict 
and  he  organised  a  regiment  of  minute-men  in  Chester 
County.  On  January  4,  1770,  he  was  appointed  colonel 
of  the  Fourth  Pennsylvania  Regiment  and  was  hurried 
away  to  Canada  with  his  regiment  spending  very  little 
of  tlie  remainder  of  his  life  at  Waynesborough. 

In  August,  1777,  General  Washington  sent  him  into 
Chester  County  to  organise  the  Pennsylvania  militia  to 
assist  the  regular  army  in  resisting  Howe  who  was  to 
attack  Philadelphia,  and  whose  route  must  lie  through 
Wayne's  home  county.  How  well  he  served  in  nearly 
every  important  engagement  from  Canada  in  the  north 
to  Georgia  in  the  south,  throughout  the  struggle  for  In- 
dependence, and  later  as  the  capable  General-in-Chief  of 
the  army  of  the  United  States,  who  in  personal  command 
conquered  the  middle  and  northwest  and  secured  for  civili- 
sation the  territory  between  the  JMississippi  and  Ohio 
Kivers,  is  well  known. 

He  married  "Polly"  (Mary)  Penrose,  daughter  of 
Bartholomew  and  granddaughter  of  a  like  named  person 
who  built  ships  at  Delaware  Avenue  and  Market  Street 
in  partnership  with  William  Penn  and  James  Logan 
and  sailed  to  many  foreign  parts  in  command  of  them. 
General  Wayne  Avi-ote  many  affectionate  and  solicitous 
letters  to  "  Polly  "  inquiring  after  her  welfare  and  the 
progress  of  his  children.  He  writes  from  Blue  Bell  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river  August  26,  1777: 

174 


WAYNESBOROUGH 


My  Dear  Girl — I  am  percmtorily  forbid  by  His  Excellency 
to  leave  the  Army — my  case  is  hard — I  am  Obliged  to  do  the 
duty  of  three  General  Officers — but  if  it  was  not  the  case — as  a 
Gen'l  Officer  I  could  not  Obtain  leave  of  Absence — I  must  there- 
fore in  the  most  pressing  Manner  Request  you  to  meet  me  to- 
morrow Evening  at  Naaman's  Creek — pray  bring  j\Ir.  Robinson 
with  my  Little  Son  &  Daughter  along — It  may  probably  happen 
that  we  may  stay  in  that  Neighbourhood  for  a  day  or  two, — My 
best  love  and  Compliments  to  all  friends 
I  am,  Dear  Polly, 

yours 

Anth'y  Wayne. 
To  Mrs.  Mary  Wayne,  Chester  County. 

After  the  entrance  of  the  British  army  into  Philadel- 
phia he  writes  again  to  cheer  her,  from  the  Trappe,  Sep- 
tember 30,  1777: 

Dear  Polly — I  thought  you  had  a  mind  far  above  being  De- 
pressed at  a  little  unfavourable  Circumstance — the  Enemy's  being 
in  Possession  of  Philadelphia  is  of  no  more  Consequence  than  their 
being  in  possession  of  the  City  of  New  York  or  Boston — they 
may  hold  it  for  a  time — but  must  leave  it  with  Circumstances  of 
shame  and  Disgrace  before  the  Close  of  the  Winter.  Our  Army 
is  now  in  full  health  and  spirits,  and  far  stronger  than  it  was 
at  the  Battle  of  the  Brandy  wine — we  are  daily  Receiving  Rein- 
forcements, and  are  now  drawing  near  the  Enemy — who  \vill 
shortly  pay  dear  for  the  little  Advantage  they  have  lately  gained 
— Our  Army  to  the  northward  under  General  Gates  is  Victorious — 
Matters  looked  much  more  Gloomy  in  that  Quarter  four  weeks 
ago — than  they  do  at  this  time  here — it  is  our  turn  next  and 
altho'  appearances  are  a  little  gloomy  at  present — yet  they  will 
be  soon  dissapated  and  a  more  pleasing  prospect  take  place. — 

176 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPinA 

Give  my  kindest  love  and  wislies  to  both  Our  Mothers  and  Sis- 
ters— tell  them  my  sword  will  shortly  point  out  the  way  to  Victory, 
peace  and  Happiness — kiss  our  little  people  for  me — Remove  my 
books  and  Valuable  Writings  some  Distance  from  my  Own  House — 
if  not  already  done — this  is  but  an  Act  of  prudence — and  not  to 
be  considered  as  proceeding  from  any  Other  Motive. 
Adieu  my  Dear  Girl  and  believe  me  Yours 

most  sincerely 

Ant'y  Wayne. 

The  general  was  a  rigid  disciplinarian  and  endeav- 
oured to  prevent  his  men  from  preying  upon  the  farmers. 
This  was  hardly  possible  at  Valley  Forge,  however,  for 
the  poor  starving  fellows  were  desperate.  Devault 
Beaver,  whose  farm  was  adjacent  to  Wayne's  head- 
quarters at  Walker's  place  during  the  winter  of  1777-78, 
complained  to  the  general  of  these  depredations  and  was 
told  to  shoot  the  first  one  that  annoyed  him.  Being  a 
Tory  he  took  the  first  opportunity  and  shot  a  soldier  milk- 
ing his  cow.  He  escaped  with  his  life  through  General 
Wayne's  intervention,  but  the  companions  of  the  dead 
man  buried  his  remains  near  Beaver's  barn  so  that  he 
Mould  always  have  the  remembrance  of  his  deed  before 
him.  R.  Francis  Wood,  Esquire,  of  Philadelphia,  who 
recentl}'^  o^vned  the  place,  has  corroborated  the  story  by 
finding  the  body  in  the  place  described. 

On  June  24,  1778,  after  the  British  evacuation  of 
Philadelphia,  Washington  invited  his  generals  to  a  coun- 
cil at  Hopewell,  New  Jersey,  wherein  he  stated  to  them 
the  conditions  of  his  own  force  and  that  of  the  enemy, 
and  asked  them  to  reply  to  this  question,  "  Will  it  be  ad- 
visable to  hazard  a  general  action?"     Sixteen  generals 

17G 


WAYNESBOROUGH 


were  gathered  before  Washington  and  all  answered 
as  against  such  an  action  until  it  came  to  Anthony 
Wayne's  turn.  Washington  then  said  to  him,  "  What 
would  you  do,  General?  "  He  arose  in  his  place  and  re- 
plied with  emphasis,  "  Fight,  sir.  "  There  were  but  two 
others  who  agreed  with  him,  but  Washington  was  one  of 
the  two  and  the  Battle  of  Monmouth  was  the  result. 
After  this  event,  writing  in  July,  1778,  General  Wayne 
characterises  the  foolish  fair  who  attended  the  Mischi- 
anza  while  the  starving  army  of  the  Republic  were  suffer- 
ing at  Valley  Forge: 

Tell  those  Philadelphia  ladies  that  the  heavenly,  sweet,  pretty 
red-coats — the  accomplished  gentlemen  of  the  guards  &  grena- 
diers have  been  humbled  on  the  plains  of  Monmouth.  The 
Knights  of  the  Blended  Rose  and  of  the  Burning  Mount  have 
resigned  their  laurels  to  Rebel  officers,  who  will  lay  them  at  the 
feet  of  those  virtuous  daughters  of  America,  who  cheerfully  gave 
up  ease  and  affluence  in  a  city,  for  liberty  and  peace  of  mind 
in  a  cottage. 

In  every  account  of  the  battles  in  which  he  was  en- 
gaged we  find  that  "  Wayne  led  the  advance."  Six 
wounds  were  the  result  of  the  ready  exposure  of  his 
person.  The  State  of  Georgia  gave  him  eight  hundred 
and  thirty  acres  of  a  rice  plantation  in  recognition  of  his 
able  services  under  Greene  in  that  State  but  he  could 
not  afford  the  labourers  to  cultivate  it.  He  was  led  into 
debt  and  an  unfortunate  controversy  over  this,  finally 
paying  the  debt,  sacrificing  the  Georgia  estate,  but  sav- 
ing WajTiesborough.  His  absence  from  home  was  a 
costly  thing.     He  writes  in  his  Ledger,  ^larch,  1784: 

12  177 


COLONIAL  HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

Mr.  Shannon  lias  sunk  for  me  since  the  beginning  of  Jan- 
uary, 1776,  upwards  of  2400£  in  stock,  exclusive  of  the  interest 
for  near  8  years.  Had  he  managed  my  stock  in  trade  to  the 
advantage  wliich  others  have  done  in  the  Course  of  the  late  war, 
I  ought  to  have  had  at  a  moderate  computation  seven  thousand 
pound  in  stock  in  place  of  nothing.     A.  W. 

He  wrote  to  Dr.  Rush  in  1782  just  before  his  return 
home  that  his  constitution  was 

broken  down  and  nearly  exhausted  by  encountering  almost  every 
excess  of  fatigue,  difficulty  and  danger  in  the  defence  of  the 
rights  and  liberty  of  America  from  the  frozen  lakes  of  Canada 
to  the  bumins:  sands  of  Florida. 


'to 


In  July,  1783,  he  returned  from  Charleston,  shat- 
tered and  enfeebled  by  fever,  unable  to  take  part  in  the 
final  ceremonies  attending  Washington's  farewell  to  the 
army  at  New  York,  or  to  attend  the  Commander-in-Chief 
as  he  passed  through  Philadelphia  on  his  way  to  Mt. 
Vernon.  His  Georgia  gift  continued  to  give  him  trouble 
and  he  writes  to  his  wife  from  Richmond,  Georgia,  July 
5,  1790: 

I  had  intended  writing  you  a  long  letter,  but  my  head  will 
not  permit  me,  at  present,  to  write  with  anj-^  degree  of  coherency. 
Persecution  has  almost  drove  me  mad  and  brings  to  my  recollec- 
tion a  few  lines  from  "  The  Old  Soldier," — 

Once  gay  in  life  and  free  from  anxious  care, 
I  through  the  furrows  drove  the  shining  share, 
I  saw  my  waving  fields  with  plenty  crowned. 
And  yellow  Ceres  joyous  smile  around, 
Till  roused  by  freedom  at  my  country's  call 
I  left  my  peaceful  home  &  gave  up  all. 

178 


,     3   '   1      1         -> 

17  •>  1        ■» 


>    ,   -•       »      ^ 


PARLOUR    AT    WAYNESBOROUGH 


J.UINt.    UiniM    AT    WAV.NK.SlU)lilH  (.11 


WAYNESBOROUGH 


Now,  forced  alas !  in  distant  climes  to  tread, 
This  crazy  body  longs  to  join  the  dead. 
Ungrateful  country !  when  the  danger's  o'er. 
Your  bravest  sons  cold  charity  implore. 
Ah!  heave  for  me  a  sympathetic  sigh 
And  wipe  the  falling  tear  from  sorrow's  eye. 

Adieu — a  long  adieu 

Yours  most  affectionately     A.  W. 

After  the  Revolutionary  struggle  he  spent  ten  years 
at  home  at  Waynesborough  before  he  was  placed  in  com- 
mand of  the  army  of  the  United  States  and  sent  west. 
lie  returned  home  again  in  1795  and  was  received  in 
Philadelphia  by  the  City  Troop  and  with  salvos  of  can- 
non, ringing  of  bells,  and  fireworks.  "  Both  body  and 
mind  are  fatigued  by  the  contest  "  were  his  pathetic  words, 
and  soon  afterward  President  Washington  sent  him  to 
Detroit  as  commissioner,  on  his  return  whence  he  died  at 
Presque  Isle,  now  Erie,  December  15,  1796. 

In  the  churchyard  at  St.  David's,  Radnor,  with  which 
his  family  have  always  been  connected,  his  remains  are 
marked  by  a  modest  monument,  erected  by  the  Society 
of  the  Cincinnati,  on  which  these  words  are  inscribed: 

Major  General  Anthony  Wayne  was  bom  at  Waynesborough 
in  Chester  County  of  Pennsylvania  A.D.  1745.  After  a  life 
of  Honour  and  Usofullness  He  died  in  December  1796,  At  a 
military  post  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie,  Commander-in-Chief  of 
the  Army  of  The  United  States.  His  military  achievements  Are 
consecrated  In  the  history  of  his  country  And  in  The  hearts 
of  his  countrymen.  His  remains  Are  here  Deposited.  In  honour 
of  the  distinguished  Military  Services  of  Major  General  Anthony 
Wayne  And  as  an  affectionate  tribute  of  respect  to  his  Memory 

179 


COLONIAL    HOMES   OF   PIIILADELPllLV 

This  Stone  was  erected  by  his  Companions  In  Arms  The  Penn- 
sylvania State  Society  of  The  Cincinnati,  July  4th.  A.D.  1809, 
Tliirty  Fourth  anniversary  of  The  Independence  of  the  United 
States,  an  Event  which  constitutes  the  most  Appropriate  Eulo- 
giuin  Of  an  American  Soldier  and  Patriot. 

Upon  the  centre  of  the  outer  line  at  Valley  Forge 
stands  a  recently  erected  noble  equestrian  statue  of  the 
general.  It  is  where  he  stood  on  that  hallowed  camp- 
ground and  the  place  he  held  upon  many  a  field  of  battle. 
There  is  no  commonwealth  in  America  but  has  a  county 
or  town  bearing  his  name,  and  one  of  the  most  inspiring 
lyrics  of  the  Civil  War  tells  how  "  The  bearded  men  are 
marching  in  the  land  of  Anthony  Wayne." 

In  appearance  General  Wayne  was  above  what  is 
termed  the  middle  stature  and  was  well  proportioned. 
His  hair  was  dark,  his  forehead  high  and  handsomely 
formed.  His  eyes  were  dark  hazel,  intelligent,  quick  and 
penetrating.  His  nose  inclined  to  be  aquiline.  His  was  a 
bold  spirit,  and  no  man  either  in  civil  or  military  affairs 
was  potent  enough  to  give  him  affront  with  impunity. 
He  was  frank,  open,  and  vigorous  and  did  not  hesitate 
to  say  "  damn."  At  the  same  time  he  was  almost  senti- 
mental  in  his  affections  and  attaclmient  to  his  wife  and 
little  son  and  daughter.  He  lived  well  and  drank  tea 
as  well  as  wine.  His  writings  show  a  philosophical  ten- 
dency and  he  wrote  to  his  son,  "  let  integrity,  industry 
and  probity  be  your  guides."  Exemplary  in  the  neatness 
of  his  apparel,  we  find  him  ordering: 

One  pair  of  elegant  gold  epaulets,  superfine  huff  sufficient  to 
face  two  uniform  coats,  with  hair  and  silk,  four  dozen  best  yel- 

180 


WAYNESBOROUGH 


low  gilt  coat  buttons,  plain  and  buff  colour  lining  suitable  to  the 
facing  of  one  coat. 

He  was  attended  by  a  body  servant,  carriage  and 
horses  and  took  table  linen  and  napkins  with  him.  The 
courtly  Mrs.  Byrd,  after  he  had  been  at  Westover, 
writes: 

I  shall  ever  retain  the  highest  sense  of  your  politeness  and 
humanity,  and  take  every  opportunity  of  testifying  my  gratitude. 

The  general's  children  were  Isaac  and  Margaretta. 
Isaac  was  born  at  Waynesborough  in  1768  and  lived  to 
the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty-four.  He  was  educated  at 
Dickinson  College  and  studied  law  with  William  Lewis, 
Esquire,  in  Philadelphia,  being  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1794.  He  resided  at  Waynesborough  and  married  Eliza- 
beth Smith,  August  25,  1802.  Isaac  Wayne  was  a  Fed- 
eralist and  was  elected  by  that  party  a  member  of  the 
Assembly  in  1800  and  1801.  He  went  to  the  State 
senate  in  1806  and  1810,  and  in  1814  was  nominated  by 
his  party  for  Governour  and  for  member  of  Congress 
from  Chester  and  Montgomery  Counties,  but  was  not 
elected.  He  ran  again  for  Congress  in  1822  with  James 
Buchanan  and  Samuel  Edwards  as  his  colleagues.  He  was 
elected  but  declined  to  serve  and  retired  from  political  life 
in  1824.  Isaac  Wayne  had  many  of  the  qualities  of  his 
father  whom  he  worshijiped.  In  1812  he  raised  a  regi- 
ment of  cavalry  and  was  elected  colonel.  They  were  in 
the  field  during  the  war  but  lacked  opportunity  for  ac- 
tive service.  None  of  the  colonel's  five  children  left  de- 
scendants and  the  family  has  been  carried  on  through 
his    sister    IVIargaretta    Wayne,    who    married    William 

181 


COLOMAI.   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

Kiclmrdson  Atlee.  Their  daughter,  INIarj^  married 
Issacliar  Evans  and  a  son,  William,  changed  his  name  to 
AVayne  at  the  death  of  his  uncle  Isaac  who  bequeathed 
Waynesborough  to  him.  The  son  of  this  William  Wayne 
is  still  seated  at  Waynesborough,  where  he  looks  out  on 
the  old  estate — a  cultivated  farm,  comfortable  homestead, 
and  picturesque  woodland — situated  on  the  edge  of  the 
beautiful  Chester  Valley  and  stretching  in  the  far  dis- 
tance to  the  Schuylkill. 


MOORE  HALL 

SCHUYLKILL  TOWNSHIP,   CHESTER 

MOORE— PENNYPACKER 


UDGE  MOORE  of  Moore  Hall  was 
one  of  the  highly  picturesque  char- 
acters of  Pennsylvania  life  in  the 
highly  picturesque  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. Not  a  little  did  he  add  to 
the  spice  of  existence  in  that  stirring 
period  of  our  history.  His  person- 
ality was  always  striking  but  doubly  so  when  in  his 
own  peculiar  setting  on  the  estate  that  takes  its  name 
from  him,  where  he  lived  in  baronial  style,  surrounded 
and  waited  upon  by  his  many  slaves  and  redemptioners, 
and  lorded  it  over  the  whole  countryside. 

Not  far  from  Phoenixville  in  Chester  County,  Moore 
Hall  stands  on  high  ground  overlooking  the  Schuylkill 
River  close  by  the  mouth  of  Pickering  Creek.  Here  he 
built,  in  1722,  or  rather  his  father  built  for  him  as  a 
gift,  a  frame  house  that  gave  place  a  little  later  to  the 
substantial  stone  mansion  still  standing.  In  general,  it 
answered  the  description  of  other  countryseats,  such  as 
Stenton  or  Hope  Lodge,  built  about  the  same  date.  Un- 
fortunately, its  appearance  was  totally  changed  not  many 
years  since  when  it  was  subjected  to  extensive  repairs  and 
alterations.  No  one  can  regard  it,  however,  even  in  its 
modernised  state,  without  being  reminded  of  the  domi- 
nating presence  of  the  masterful  old  Loyalist  who  dwelt 
there  till  a  full  ripe  age,  faithful  to  the  very  end  in  his 
allegiance  to  the  British  Crown. 

Descended  of  an  ancient  Cavalier  family,  the  Hon- 

183 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHL\ 


curable  John  Moore,  who  came  hither  in  1688,  was  some- 
time King's  collector  of  the  port  of  Philadelphia,  attor- 
ney-general of  the  Province,  and  judge  of  the  Admir- 
alty Court.  He  had  seven  children,  one  of  whom,  born 
in  1C99,  was  William,  the  Judge  ]Moore  of  Moore  HaU. 
At  the  age  of  nineteen,  William  JMoore  was  sent  to  Ox- 
ford to  complete  his  education  and  graduated  there  in 
1710.  On  the  occasion  of  his  marriage  in  1722,  his  father 
settled  upon  him  the  house  and  surrounding  plantation 
of  twelve  hundred  acres  by  the  banks  of  the  Pickering 
Creek,  where  he  thenceforward  made  his  home  and  dwelt 
till  his  death  in  1783. 

His  wife  was  the  Lady  Williamina,  daughter  of 
David,  third  Earl  of  Wemyss,  who  had  accompanied 
her  brother  when  he  fled  to  this  country  in  consequence 
of  his  connexion  with  one  of  the  Jacobite  uprisings. 
From  the  union  of  Judge  Moore  and  the  Lady  Wil- 
liamina, many  Philadelphia  families  trace  lines  of  de- 
scent, among  them  the  Bonds,  Cadwaladers,  Rawles, 
Smiths,  Whelens,  the  Hobarts  of  Pottstown,  the  Du- 
Ponts  of  Delaware,  the  Goldsboroughs  of  Maryland,  and 
sundry  members  of  the  German  and  English  nobility. 

Lady  Williamina  seems  to  have  been  blessed  not  only 
with  remarkable  personal  beauty  but  with  most  sterling 
qualities  of  character  as  well.  She  was  greatly  beloved 
by  her  children  and  husband,  who,  in  his  will  wherein  he 
leaves  her  all  his  estate,  paid  her  a  deep  tribute  when  he 
wrote  of  her: 

Never  friglitened  by  the  rude  rabble,  or  dismayed  by  the 
insolent  threats  of  the  ruling  powers — happy  woman,  a  pattern 

184 


MOORE  HALL 


of  her  sex,  and  worthy  the  relationship  she  bears  to  the  Right 
Honourable  and  noble  family  from  whence  she  sprang. 

William  Moore  was  a  devoted  churchman  and  served 
on  the  vestries  of  St.  James's,  Evansburg,  and  St.  David's, 
Radnor.  His  early  interest  and  activity  in  political  af- 
fairs brought  him  a  seat  in  the  Asembly  in  1733.  In 
1741  he  was  appointed  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  a  judge 
of  the  County  Court  and  for  a  space  of  some  forty  years 
was  president  judge  over  the  Orphans',  Common  Pleas 
and  Quarter  Sessions  Courts  of  Chester  County.  Dur- 
ing the  troubles  with  the  Indians,  about  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  he  was  colonel  of  one  of  the  county 
regiments  of  militia. 

From  this  military  connexion  grew  an  occurrence  that 
set  the  whole  Province  by  the  ears  and  was  finally  car- 
ried to  the  King  for  settlement.  Judge  Moore  was  a 
warm  supporter  of  the  Proprietary  party  and  in  the  hot 
disputes  between  the  Governour  and  the  Assembly  about 
measures  of  defence  against  the  Indians  he  energetically 
espoused  the  side  of  the  former.  The  Assembly,  being 
controlled  by  the  Friends,  was  opposed  to  armed  resist- 
ance or  the  formation  of  any  military  organisation.  The 
Governour  and  a  numerous  body  of  the  Colonists,  on  the 
other  hand,  realising  fully  the  acute  danger  from  the 
Indians  demanded  measures  for  organised  resistance. 

When  the  Assembly  was  paltering,  dawdling,  and 
wasting  valuable  time  about  passing  a  much-needed  mili- 
tia law,  Judge  Moore  wrote  that  two  thousand  men  would 
march  down  to  Philadelphia  from  Chester  County  and 
compel  them  to  pass  it.  The  pride  of  that  body,  which 
always  took  itself  very  seriously,  was  wounded  and  from 

185 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

tliat  time  oil  it  lent  a  ready  ear  to  the  many  complaints 
of  the  judge's  political  enemies  who  sought  his  removal. 
\Vhile  Judge  Moore's  imperious  manner  and  vigorous, 
summary  administration  of  justice,  coupled  with  the  aris- 
tocratic state  maintained  at  Moore  Hall,  doubtless  drew 
the  rustic  envj"^  and  dislike  of  some  narrow  boors  in  the 
neighbourhood,  there  can  be  little  question  that  the  great 
majority  of  the  complaints  charging  him  with  tjTanny, 
injustice  and  extortion  were  inspired  by  political  enmity 
ever  ready  to  catch  at  any  straw  of  accusation  or  slander. 

The  Assembly  summoned  Judge  jNIoore  to  answer 
these  charges.  He,  however,  conceiving  that  they  had 
no  authorised  cognisance  in  the  matter,  very  properly  re- 
fused to  appear.  Piqued  at  his  repeated  refusals  to  heed 
their  citations,  they  declared  him  guilty  of  extortion 
and  many  other  misdemeanours  and  asked  for  his  removal 
from  the  bench.  Following  close  upon  this  JNIoore  pub- 
lished in  several  of  the  newspapers  a  review  of  the  As- 
sembly's action  terming  it  "  virulent  and  scandalous " 
and  a  "  continued  string  of  the  severest  calumny  and 
most  rancorous  epithets  conceived  in  all  the  terms  of 
malice  and  party  rage." 

The  new  Assembly,  with  substantially  the  same  per- 
sonnel as  the  old,  as  soon  as  it  convened,  retaliated  by 
procuring  a  warrant  for  the  judge's  arrest  and  sent 
two  armed  men  to  JNIoore  Hall  to  fetch  him  to  gaol.  They 
haled  him  to  the  city  and  cast  him  into  prison  along  wdth 
Provost  Smith,  whom  they  accused  of  complicity  in  pre- 
paring the  objectionable  document,  wliich  they  ordered 
should  be  publicly  l)urned  by  the  hangman. 

Denying  the  justice  of  their  imprisonment,  they  both 

186 


MOORE  HALL 


refused  to  plead  and  after  being  confined  with  common 
felons  for  about  three  months  they  were  released.  There- 
upon Provost  Smith  went  to  England  and  carried  the 
grievance  to  the  King.  The  matter  resulted  in  a  victory 
for  Moore  and  Smith  and  an  expression  of  "  His  Maj- 
esty's high  displeasure "  to  the  Assembly  for  their 
presumption. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  Judge  ^loore  re- 
mained loyal  in  his  allegiance  to  the  Crown  and  was 
"  most  vehement  in  his  disapproval  of  any  attempt  on 
the  part  of  the  Colonies  to  separate  from  the  mother 
country."  During  the  encampment  at  Valley  Forge 
Colonel  Riddle  and  other  distinguished  officers  were  quar- 
tered at  Moore  Hall,  where  they  were  courteously  treated 
by  the  master.  Any  allusion,  however,  to  the  right  of  the 
Colonies  to  throw  off  the  Rritish  voke  would  throw  the 
old  judge  "  into  a  state  bordering  on  apoplexy."  On  one 
occasion  when  a  party  of  soldiers,  sent  to  deprive  Loyalists 
of  their  arms,  went  to  Moore  Hall  and  found  the 
haughty  occupant  confined  to  an  easy  chair,  suffering 
from  a  frightful  attack  of  gout,  which  did  not  tend  to  im- 
prove his  irascible  temper,  they  discovered  a  most  beau- 
tifully wrought  sword,  the  handle  of  which  was  inlaid  with 
gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones.  They  were  about  to 
make  off  with  it,  when  Judge  IMoore  insisted  on  having 
a  last  look  at  the  prized  heirloom.  No  sooner  had 
he  taken  it  in  his  fingers  than  he  snapped  the  blade  from 
the  handle.  Holding  the  hilt  tightly  in  his  right  hand, 
he  threw  the  useless  blade  at  the  feet  of  the  leader  of  the 
party.  "  There,"  he  cried,  with  flashing  eye,  "  take  that 
if  you  want  to  fight,  but  you  shall  not  rob  me  of  my  plate!  " 

187 


COLONIAL    HOMES   OF    PHILADELPHIA 


Despite  his  reputation  for  irascibility  and  arrogance, 
Judge  ISIoore  was  a  kind  and  loving  father,  an  indulgent 
master,  and  ever  generous  in  his  hospitality.  His 
indulgence,  however,  was  not  always  requited  w^ith  grati- 
tude as  we  may  infer  from  an  advertisement  in  a  news- 
paper of  1730,  which  incidentally  gives  a  pleasing  domes- 
tic touch  as  well  as  an  insight  into  the  judge's  wardrobe. 
It  says: 

Run  away  from  William  Moore  of  Moore  Hall,  in  Chester 
County,  a  likely  young  Negro  Man,  named  Jack ;  speaks  but 
indifferent  English,  and  had  on  when  he  went  away  a  new  Ozen- 
burg  Shirt,  a  pair  of  striped  homespun  Breeches,  a  striped  tick- 
ing Wastecoat,  an  old  Dimity  Coat  of  his  master's,  with  buttons 
of  Horseteeth  set  in  Brass  and  Cloth  sleeves,  a  Felt  Hat,  almost 
new.  Whoever  secures  the  said  Negro  and  will  bring  him  to  his 
Master  or  to  John  Moore,  Esq.,  in  Philadelphia,  shall  receive 
Twenty  Shillings  Reward  and  reasonable  charges. 

William  Mooke. 

Judge  INIoore  died  in  May,  1783,  and  was  buried  on 
the  threshold  of  St.  David's  Church,  Radnor,  where  every- 
one entering  passes  over  his  body.  Lady  Williamina  died 
a  year  later  and  was  buried  beside  him.  INIoore  Hall  even* 
tually  passed  from  the  family  and  is  now  owned  and  occu- 
pied by  a  brother  of  former  Governour  Pennypacker. 


VAUX  HILL— FATLAND 

LOWER  PROVIDExNCE  TOWNSHIP,  MONTGOMERY 
VAUX— BAKEWELL— WETHERILL 


'^T  the  crest  of  a  rising  ground  on  the 
northern  bank  of  the  Schuylkill, 
almost  directly  opposite  Valley 
Forge,  stands  Vaux  Hill,  or  Fat- 
land,  one  of  the  historic  spots  of  a 
neighbourhood  abounding  in  Revo- 
lutionary memories.  So  closely  is 
the  house  screened  by  great  ancient  trees  that  only  in 
winter  when  the  leaves  are  fallen  can  one  catch  a  glimpse 
from  a  distance  of  its  stately  w^hite  porticos  gleaming 
through  the  interlacing  branches.  Here,  in  1775,  just  be- 
fore the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  came  James  Vaux, 
of  Croydon,  near  London,  sprung  of  ancient  but  impov- 
erished line,  and  took  up  land,  attracted,  doubtless,  in 
part  by  the  name  of  the  district,  which  truly  reflects  its 
character. 

The  Vaux  Hill  or  Fatland  estate  covers  a  large  part  of 
what  was  known  to  the  earliest  settlers  as  the  fat  land 
of  the  Egypt  District.  It  was  so  called  by  them  because 
of  its  natural  character.  Lying  just  below  the  conflu- 
ence of  the  Perkiomen  Creek  and  the  Schuylkill  River  is 
a  broad  acreage  of  meadowland,  so  regularly  inundated 
during  the  spring  freshets  and,  after  their  subsidence,  so 
deeply  encrusted  with  a  rich  deposit  of  alluvial  soil, 
brought  down  from  the  upper  river,  that  its  resemblance 
to  Egypt  and  the  life-bearing  overflow  of  the  Nile  was 
too  close  to  pass  unnoticed. 

James  Vaux,  the  progenitor  of  the  elder  branch  of  the 

189 


COLOxMAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


fuiiiiiy  in  this  country,  was  a  notable  farmer  and  it  is  of  in- 
terest to  observe  that  he  introduced  the  culture  of  red 
clover  into  America.  His  idea  it  was,  also,  to  sow  the 
seeds  among  the  wheat  or  rye  so  that  the  young  clover 
plants  might  have  protection  until  they  got  a  good  start. 
For  our  notions  of  the  appearance  of  the  house  as  it 
was  in  James  Vaux's  day  and  for  many  years  afterward, 
we  are  entirely  de^^endent  on  descriptions.  In  the  diary 
of  Robert  Sutcliff,  an  English  Friend,  covering  his 
"travels  in  some  parts  of  North  America"  in  1804  and 
the  two  following  years,  he  tells  us  that 

on  the  estate  is  a  well  finished  square  stone  house,  about  15 
yards  in  length,  with  wide  boarded  floor  piazza,  both  in  back  and 
front.  These  afford  excellent  accommodation  during  the  sum- 
mer season,  which  continues  much  longer,  and  in  general  is  mucli 
warmer  here  than  in  England;  as,  in  these  piazzas,  they  fre- 
quently take  tea  and  spend  their  evenings.  Besides  the  dwelling 
house,  there  is  an  excellent  kitchen,  and  offices  adjoining;  with 
a  large  barn,  and  stables  sufficient  to  accommodate  40  horses 
and  cows ;  all  well  built  of  stone.  [This  last  remark  presumably 
refers  to  the  buildings,  not  the  animals !]  The  estate  extends 
the  whole  breadth  betwixt  the  Schuylkill  and  Perkiomen.  On 
the  former  river  there  is  a  Shad  Fishery  which  is  of  considerable 
value;  and  if  prosecuted  with  spirit  might  supply  many  families 
with  fish  for  the  whole  year. 

In  the  year  following  his  first  visit,  Sutcliff,  again 
staying  at  Vaux  Hill— or  perchance  it  may  have  already 
been  renamed  Fatland — fairly  brimful  of  admiration,  en- 
ters in  his  diary 

the  13th  of  5th  month,  1805,  was  spent  at  my  relation's,  W.  B. 
[William   Bakewell,   then   the   master   of  the   estate].      Our  time 

190 


VAUX  HILL— FATLAND 


passed  on  very  agreeably  in  traversing  his  plantation,  or  farm, 
on  the  Banks  of  the  Schuylkill  and  Perkioming  [sic].  The  more 
I  see  of  it,  the  more  I  am  convinced  that  it  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  healthful  situations  I  have  known,  either  in  America 
or  England.  The  ground  rising  till  it  becomes  elevated  high 
above  the  banks  of  the  rivers,  commands  a  prospect  as  delight- 
ful as  can  well  be  conceived.  A  view  of  some  of  our  Noblemen's 
Parks,  on  the  more  extensive  scale,  may  give  a  faint  idea  of  the 
prospect  here  seen;  for  even  with  such  it  is  comparing  small 
things  with  great  ones,  or  putting  art  in  competition  with  nature. 

Well  might  Robert  Siitcliff  regard  with  keen  pleasure 
the  beauty  of  the  country  round  Fatland  in  May — his  for- 
mer visit  was  in  August — when  fresh  burgeoned  nature  is 
aglow  with  the  radiance  of  youth  and  the  tender,  trans- 
parent greens  of  the  half-gro^vn  leaves,  with  the  sunlight 
glinting  through  the  branches,  make  an  almost  ethereal 
background  for  the  masses  of  blossoms  that  dazzle  the 
eye  and  flood  the  air  with  fragrance.  In  SutcliiF's  day 
the  river  view  from  Fatland  and  the  outlook  over  the  sur- 
rounding country,  that  caused  him  such  genuine  delight 
and  drew  forth  such  flattering  comparisons  with  the  great 
seats  in  England,  were  more  open  and  extensive  than  now 
when  the  trees  around  the  house  have  attained  a  far  better 
growth.  The  great  sycamores,  planted  by  James  Vaux, 
that  now  cast  their  ample  shade  around  the  walls  were 
then  mere  saplings  compared  to  their  present  dimensions. 

With  the  coming  of  the  Schuylkill  canal  and  dams  the 
shad  fishery  that  so  impressed  the  Quaker  traveller  with 
its  possibilities  disappeared,  as  did,  also,  Fatland  Ford 
leading  to  Valley  Forge,  across  which  General  Sullivan 
was   deputed   by  Washington   to   construct   a   pontoon 

191 


COLONIAL   H0MF:S   OF    PHILADELPHIA 

bridge.  Over  this,  at  the  ev^aciiation  of  Valley  Forge  in 
1778,  tlie  army  was  conducted,  thence  passing  up  the  lane 
near  the  house.  This  crossing  of  the  Schuylkill  on  the 
j)oiitoon  bridge  is  commemorated  by  a  small  monument 
by  the  river  bank. 

James  Vaux  being  a  Friend  and  wishing  well  to  all 
men,  made  no  distinction  in  his  treatment  of  the  contend- 
ing parties — though  his  sympathies  were  with  the  patriot 
cause,  and  he  afterward  trained  with  the  militia — and  left 
liis  house  open  to  all.  This  was  a  general  practice  among 
Quakers  during  the  Revolution  and  in  this  connexion 
SutclifF  naively  remarks  that  "  this  proved  the  best  policy; 
for  though  attended  Avitli  some  loss  of  provisions  at  the 
time,  yet  they  were  generally  preserved  from  any  serious 
suffering  in  their  persons,  by  their  hospitable  conduct." 
James  Vaux's  case,  however,  was  an  exception  to  this  gen- 
eral inmnmity  from  serious  loss.  The  British  Army  in 
September,  1777,  passing  from  Valley  Forge  to  the  north 
bank  of  the  Schuylkill  by  the  ford  at  that  place  and,  not 
many  months  later,  the  American  forces  evacuating  Valley 
Forge  and  crossing  by  the  same  ford,  both  swarmed  over 
the  Vaux  Hill  plantation  like  devastating  clouds  of  locusts 
and  wrought  such  havoc,  tearing  down  fences,  destroy- 
ing trees,  and  doing  thousands  of  pounds'  worth  of  dam- 
age in  various  ways,  that  Mr.  Vaux's  estate  was  seriously 
embarrassed  in  consequence. 

After  the  battle  of  Brandy  wine  the  Continental  Army 
retreated  to  Pottstown,  then  called  Pottsgrove,  while  the 
British  Army  lay  partly  at  Valley  Forge  and  partly  near 
JMoore  Hall.  Washington,  wishing  to  make  a  reconnais- 
sance of  the  position  of  the  British  troops,  rode  do^vn  the 

192 


VAUX  HILL— FATLAND 


north  bank  of  the  Schuvlkill  and  on  the  afternoon  of 
September  21  came  to  the  house  of  James  Vaux  whence 
he  had  an  excellent  view  of  the  forces  of  his  antagonist 
on  the  opposite  bank.  The  Commander-in-Chief  supped 
at  Vaux  Hill,  stayed  over  night  and  departed  after  break- 
fast the  next  morning. 

On  the  afternoon  of  that  same  day,  September  22, 
Sir  William  Howe  crossed  the  river,  supped  at  Vaux  Hill, 
stopped  over  night,  probably  slept  in  the  same  bed  Wash- 
ington had  occupied  and  left  after  breakfast  on  the  23d. 
On  arriving  he  remarked  to  his  host  that,  from  what  he 
had  been  able  to  see  with  his  spyglass,  there  must  have 
been  some  distinguished  officer  of  the  rebel  army  stopping 
at  the  house  the  night  before.  Being  told  that  it  was 
Washington  himself  he  exclaimed  in  vexation,  "  Oh,  I  wish 
I  had  only  known  that,  and  I  would  have  tried  to  catch 
him!"  This  is  another  of  Howe's  long  list  of  "might 
haves."  The  incident  was  trifling  but  on  it  depended  the 
whole  future  of  the  American  cause,  for  the  hope  of  suc- 
cess undoubtedly  rested  almost  entirely  upon  Washing- 
ton's life. 

We  have  no  portrait  of  James  Vaux  and  we  are  en- 
tirely dependent  upon  verbal  descriptions  of  this  quiet, 
dignified  Quaker  gentleman  who  to  the  last  wore  the 
primitive  Quaker  garb  of  drab-coloured  knee-breeches  and 
a  very  long  coat,  a  high  hat,  and  shoes  of  extraordinary 
pattern.  He  was  deeply  respected  and  trusted  by  all  who 
knew  him,  and  sat  in  the  first  legislature  of  Pennsylvania 
after  the  close  of  the  war. 

In  1804,  William  Bakewell,  formerly  of  London,  in- 
tending to  make  his  future  home  in  America,  purchased 

13  193 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


Fatlaiul,  considering  this  seat  offered  the  greatest  attrac- 
tions of  any  place  he  had  seen  in  America  after  travelling 
from  Connecticut  to  North  Carolina.  JNIr.  Bakewell  was 
one  of  the  sheriffs  of  London  during  the  reign  of  George 
III,  and  the  immediate  cause  of  his  coming  to  America 
calls  to  mind  an  interesting  incident  in  the  history  of  the 
period.  A  number  of  the  Spectator  appeared  one  day 
with  some  pointed  strictures  upon  an  indiscretion  com- 
mitted by  the  Queen.  By  royal  order  the  whole  issue 
was  at  once  suppressed.  The  affair  created  a  furore  and 
great  indignation  was  expressed  at  the  King's  arbitrary 
action  in  trampling  on  the  rights  of  freedom  of  speech. 
Bakewell  in  several  ways  indicated  his  sympathy  with  the 
incensed  public  and  this  so  angered  the  King  that  he  de- 
prived him  of  his  shrievalty.  Smarting  with  resentment 
at  this  royal  reprimand  Bakewell  determined  to  leave 
England  and  settle  in  America. 

In  January,  1804,  he  took  up  his  residence  at  Fatland 
with  his  wife  and  children,  intending  thenceforth  to  lead 
the  life  of  a  country  gentleman  and  devote  himself  to  his 
studies  and  farming.  Mrs.  Bakewell  did  not  long  survive 
the  change.  Longing  for  her  English  home  and  pining 
away  with  homesickness,  she  died  in  September  of  the  same 
year  and  was  buried  in  the  adjoining  woods,  where  her 
husband  erected  a  headstone  with  a  beautiful  poetical 
memorial.  Lucy  Bakewell,  her  mother's  namesake,  there- 
after presided  over  the  household  for  her  father  and 
brothers  until  the  great  ornithologist,  Audubon,  carried 
her  away  as  his  bride. 

The  circumstances  of  their  meeting  are  not  without  a 
touch  of  romance.     At  the  time  when  Audubon,  newly 

194 


VAUX  HILL— FATLAND 


come  to  America,  established  himself  at  Mill  Grove  Farm, 
the  adjoining  estate  to  Fatland,  it  chanced  that  England 
and  France  were  engaged  in  hostilities.  As  Mr.  Bake- 
well  was  English,  Audubon  hated  him  ipso  facto  and 
studiously  avoided  meeting  him.  The  farmer  at  Mill 
Grove  tried  to  dissuade  him  from  this  course,  telling  him 
how  estimable  a  gentleman  Mr.  Bakewell  was,  but  with- 
out avail.  At  last,  one  day,  Audubon  while  out  hunting 
accidentally  fell  in  with  Mr.  Bakewell,  who  was  a  keen 
sportsman,  and,  without  knowing  who  he  was,  engaged  in 
conversation  with  him.  When  at  length  the  identity  of 
each  became  known  to  the  other  the  ice  had  been  broken 
and  it  was  not  long  before  Audubon  accepted  Mr.  Bake- 
well's  courteous  invitation  to  call  at  Fatland. 

On  his  first  going  there  Mr.  Bakewell  was  from  home, 
but  Miss  Lucy  did  the  honours  so  delightfully  until  her 
father  returned  that  it  was  not  long  before  the  naturalist 
repeated  this  visit.  He  also  found  Mr.  Bakewell  a  con- 
genial spirit  interested  in  scientific  and  literary  pursuits. 
The  intimacy  between  Fatland  and  Mill  Grove  soon  be- 
came firmly  established  and  reached  its  logical  culmination 
when  Miss  Lucy  consented,  with  her  father's  approval,  to 
become  Madame  Audubon. 

In  1825,  Fatland  passed  by  purchase  to  a  branch  of 
the  Wetherill  family  and  has  remained  in  their  possession 
ever  since.  Samuel  Wetherill,  the  purchaser  of  the  es- 
tate, lived  at  Fatland  till  his  death  in  1829,  and  his  widow 
continued  there  for  a  number  of  years  after.  In  1832  she 
built  the  Union  Church,  not  far  distant  and  although,  at 
that  time,  she  had  joined  the  Episcopal  Church,  neverthe- 
less, out  of  regard  for  her  husband,  who  had  been  an  active 

195 


COLONIAL  HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


member  of  the  Free  Quaker  Society,  she  saw  to  it  that 
the  edifice,  as  far  as  practicable,  should  resemble  a  Quaker 
meeting  house  in  both  its  inside  and  outside  appearance. 

On  the  side  opposite  the  door  is  an  old-fashioned  three- 
deck  pulpit  flanked  on  either  hand  by  an  unusually  high 
balustrade  with  tall  and  narrow  spindles.  A  former  rec- 
tor, a  man  of  commanding  physique  and  stature,  none  too 
large  for  his  pulpit,  however,  being  absent  on  one  occa- 
sion, his  place  was  supplied  by  a  worthy  but  small 
and  excessively  pompous  brother-clerg5''man  weighed 
down  by  the  sense  of  his  o^vn  dignity.  Before  the  service, 
the  sexton,  taking  the  measure  of  the  reverend  gentleman's 
inches,  thoughtfully  suggested  placing  a  box  in  the  pul- 
pit for  him  to  stand  on,  but  this  offer  the  small  ecclesiastic 
indignantly  resented.  When  sermon  time  came  he  sailed 
majestically  up  to  the  appointed  place,  but  alas,  the  top 
of  his  head  barely  reached  the  desk.  It  was  manifestly 
impossible  to  roar  forth  his  exhortation  imseeing  and  un- 
seen, so  he  stepped  to  one  side,  peered  through  the  balus- 
trade, grasping  a  spindle  in  each  hand  and,  looking  in 
his  full-flowing  surplice  for  all  the  world  like  a  polar  bear 
behind  the  bars  of  a  cage,  announced  his  text,  "  It  is  I, 
be  not  afraid."     The  congregation  was  convulsed. 

About  1845,  after  Mrs.  Wetherill's  death,  in  the  set- 
tlement of  the  estate,  Fatland  came  to  her  son,  the  late 
Doctor  William  Wetherill.  Owing  to  the  decayed  con- 
dition of  the  house,  Doctor  Wetherill  tore  it  down  to  the 
ground  and  on  the  same  foundations  built  the  present 
structure  in  a  somewhat  more  elaborate  style,  though  pre- 
serving, from  motives  of  sentiment,  substantially  the  lines 
of  the  original  building.     In  front  and  in  the  back,  six 

106 


3  3      3'      >       )        >        > 

J  J      3    ',3       3  J  , 

3(3         3         3      3  3         3 


3  >  J      '",'>',     J,       3      3 


J  3         3  3      3. 


3        3      ,        3      ,3 


13   3    5      3  '3 


3    3  3     ',  J     3       3 

333        '333 


>  •  •        • 


•  «         •       •  •  I 


•       •     • 


•   ••'   , 

t   •    V         «        • 


VAITX  HILI^FATLAND 


great  Ionic  columns  support  the  lofty  roof  of  the  portico 
that  extends  across  the  main  portion  of  the  house.  At 
one  side  a  long  wing  is  taken  up  by  the  dining-room,  the 
breakfast-room  and  the  pantries,  while  in  the  basement 
are  the  kitchens  and  various  offices.  On  the  second  floor 
of  the  wing  are  ample  provisions  for  the  nurseries  and 
for  the  quarters  of  the  house  servants.  The  interior 
adornment  of  the  house,  which  was  at  that  time  said  to 
be  the  handsomest  in  Pennsylvania,  was  most  elaborate. 
Delicately  carved  marble  mantelpieces  were  cause  for 
proper  pride.  The  walls  were  hung  with  paper  brought 
from  France  and  along  the  halls  and  opposite  the  nur- 
series was  a  full  portrayal  in  colours  of  Polonius  giving 
advice  to  his  son. 

The  dining-room  is  of  truly  generous  proportions,  and 
had  need  to  be  for  the  lavish  entertaining  that  was  done 
there.  It  was  no  unusual  thing  for  fifty  people  to  sit 
down  to  dinner  and  on  the  occasion  of  Doctor  WetherilFs 
birthday  parties  in  February  sometimes  as  many  as  eighty 
guests  would  take  their  places  at  the  table.  Open-handed 
hospitality  was  ever  the  rule  at  Fatland  and  was  not  con- 
fined exclusively  to  the  personal  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances of  the  owner.  When  the  Wetherill  Blues,  a  mili- 
tary body  named  in  honour  of  Doctor  Wetherill  who  had 
organised  it,  were  mustered  out  after  the  Civil  War  they 
were  so  unstintedly  feted  at  Fatland  that  for  two  weeks 
echoes  of  good  cheer  were  ringing  through  the  countryside. 
Not  very  far  from  the  house,  at  the  edge  of  the  woods, 
are  the  Bakewell  graves — Mr.  Bakewell  though  buried  at 
first  in  Philadelphia  was  afterward  laid  beside  his  wife — 

197 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PllILADELPinA 


and  aroiiiul  tliem  are  the  graves  of  the  Free  Quakers 
whose  bodies  were  removed  thither — when  the  burying 
Lrround  on  Fifth  Street  near  Locust  was  devoted  to  other 
purposes — and  phiced  in  a  plot  designated  for  that  i^ur- 
pose  by  Colonel  John  Wetherill  to  whom  the  estate  passed 
in  1872  upon  the  death  of  his  father  Doctor  Wetherill. 
Fatland  has  been  in  its  day  one  of  the  most  noted  and 
notable  seats  in  the  region  about  Philadelphia  and  even 
now  after  many  years  of  tenancy  by  only  caretakers,  the 
present  o\mer  not  electing  to  live  there,  it  has  preserved 
its  stately  charm  and  grace  and  only  needs  trifling  re- 
pairs and  the  gardener's  pruning  knife  and  grubbing  hoe 
to  place  it  once  more  among  the  foremost  plantations  of 
the  day. 


MILL  GROVE 

LOWER  PROVIDENCE  TOWNSHIP,  MONTGOMERY 
MORGAN— EVANS— PENN— AUDUBON— WETHERILL 


C3^<5=^^^¥''^^  5\'^:^\  ^'^  ^  stone's  throw  from  Fatland's 
\f^B^m^W^^  S^^^  along  the  road  from  Pawling's 

Bridge,  is  the  lane  turning  into  Mill 
Grove,  a  place  filled  with  memories 
of  Audubon  and  sacred  to  all  bird- 
lovers  and  naturalists.  A  short  drive 
down  this  lane  brings  us  to  the  house 
perched  on  the  western  slope  of  a  steep  hill  overhanging 
the  Perkiomen,  which  sweeps  by  at  the  foot  of  the  de- 
clivity. Beyond  the  creek,  broad  meadows  open  out,  while 
the  hither  bank  grows  more  and  more  precipitous  with  a 
dense  wood  hanging  at  its  summit. 

Mill  Grove  House,  built  foursquare  of  native,  tawny, 
rough-hewn  stone,  a  good  plain  farmhouse  of  massive 
masonry  without  architectural  pretensions,  is  just  such 
as  a  sturdy  yeoman  might  be  expected  to  build  in  the 
midst  of  his  fields.  A  thick  mantling  of  English  ivy 
clings  to  the  walls  and  knits  the  fabric  to  surrounding 
nature.  Through  the  midst  of  the  house  runs  a  hall  on 
each  side  of  which  there  are  two  large  rooms.  The  same 
arrangement  is  repeated  abovestairs  and  again  in  the 
attic. 

Since  William  Penn's  original  grant  of  this  tract  in 
1699,  the  land  has  had  many  owners,  including  Colonel 
Edward  Farmer  of  White  Marsh,  the  Morrises  and 
Lewises,  and  at  one  time  Governour  John  Penn  and  his 
wife.     In  1762,  a  year  of  unusual  building  activity  in 

199 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


Colonial  annals,  James  ^Morgan  of  Durham  Furnace  con- 
nexion in  Pucks,  built  the  house,  as  a  date  stone  in  the 
ai)ex  of  the  gable  attests,  and  in  1765  added  the  small 
kitchen  wing  at  one  end.  His  brother,  Thomas  Morgan, 
for  a  season  conducted  the  house  as  a  hostelry.  In  1771 
Rowland  Evans,  James  ISIorgan's  partner  in  the  mill  in- 
terests, from  which  the  place  took  its  name,  bought  the 
property  and  sold  it  five  years  later  to  Governour  John 
Penn.  From  Penn  and  his  wife  it  passed  through  sev- 
eral hands  until  Augustin  Prevost  sold  it  in  1789  to  John 
Audubon  [the  admiral]  father  of  John  James  LaForest 
Audubon,  the  ornithologist,  who  gave  Mill  Grove  name 
and  fame. 

Sent  from  San  Domingo  or  Louisiana  to  France  to  be 
educated  for  the  navy  that  he  might  follow  his  father's 
footsteps,  young  Audubon  showed  himself  singularly  un- 
fitted by  disposition  and  talents  for  that  profession,  and 
it  became  quite  plain  that  his  bent  lay  wholly  in  the  di- 
rection of  art  and  natural  history.  After  a  course  of  edu- 
cation in  which  he  seems  to  have  profited  chiefly  by  his 
instruction  in  music  and  drawing,  his  father,  seeing  that 
it  was  useless  to  press  the  naval  calling,  permitted  him  to 
come  and  live  at  his  Mill  Grove  farm  where  he  was  free 
to  indulge  to  the  full  his  passion  for  outdoor  life. 

Thither,  then,  he  came  about  1797  and  roamed  the 
fields  and  woods,  gun  in  hand,  in  search  of  specimens, 
drew,  rode  horseback  or  played  his  fiddle — he  was  a  pro- 
ficient musician — as  fancy  dictated.  Besides  his  devo- 
tion to  drawing  and  bird  studies,  he  had  a  passion  for 

200 


)  J      »      J    >        >      1 


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>       .  1 ',>'%'      '         " 

1        )       '    '>       '       )  '      '       •>    ,  1 
'  1         >     1  1      1     J      '     > 


LOUDOUN,    GERMANTOWN 
Built  by  Thomas  Armatt,  1801 


MILL    (iROVE,    LOWER    PROVIDEXCE 

Tlic  first  hoiiii'  of  Auilulidn  in  Ami-rica 


MILL  GROVE 


fine  horses  and  fine  clothes  and,  as  he  had  ample  means 
at  his  disposal,  he  led  a  happy,  care-free  existence  and 
gratified  his  tastes  to  his  heart's  content.  There  is  not 
a  foot  of  ground  for  miles  around  that  he  did  not  wander 
over  in  his  quest  for  birds  or  on  his  shooting  expeditions. 
His  extravagant  fondness  for  gay  clothing  led  him  to 
roam  the  fields  arrayed  in  pumps,  silk  stockings,  satin 
breeches,  embroidered  waistcoats,  and  belaced  and  be- 
ruffled  shirts — all  the  male  finery  then  in  vogue — and  one 
involuntarily  smiles  to  think  what  a  sorry  bedraggled 
spectacle  he  must  often  have  presented  after  an  early 
morning  ramble  through  the  dank,  dew-laden  Perkiomen 
meadows. 

The  story  of  his  meeting  his  neighbours,  the  Bake- 
wells,  and  of  his  courtship  of  Miss  Lucy,  has  been  told  in 
the  account  of  Fatland.  These  were  the  happiest  years 
of  his  life,  before  the  shadows  of  adversity  and  financial 
anxiety  had  darkened  his  path. 

About  1805  or  1806  he  was  again  in  France  studying 
under  the  artist  David.  Returning  to  America  he  mar- 
ried Lucy  Bakewell  in  April,  1808.  Meanwhile,  compli- 
cations had  arisen  through  an  unworthy  business  associate 
whom  his  father  had  sent  over  to  assist  in  developing  the 
lead  mine  on  the  property.  The  outcome  of  it  all  was 
that  Audubon  and  his  bride  went  to  Kentucky,  INIill 
Grove  was  sold  to  the  former  agent  and  associate, 
Da  Costa,  who  formed  a  lead-mining  company  of  whicli 
Stephen  Girard  was  one  of  the  stockholders.  After  a 
short  time  the  lead  mine  was  abandoned  and  the  property 
sold. 

201 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   rillLADKLPIlIA 

In  1813  Mill  Grove  came  into  the  possession  of  the 
^Vctherill  family  and  with  the  exception  of  a  period  of 
fifteen  years,  during  which  it  was  in  other  hands,  has  re- 
mained there  ever  since.  The  present  owner,  JNIr. 
William  ITenrv  Wetherill,  who  has  the  estate  for  a  coim- 
tryseat,  courteously  welcomes  all  Audubon  pilgrims — 
and  they  are  legion — who  come  to  see  the  one-time  home 
of  the  great  ornithologist. 


STENTON 

GERMANTOWN  ROAD,  GERMANTOWN 
LOGAN 


TENTON  was  one  of  the  earliest 
and  most  pretentious  of  the  coun- 
tryseats  of  the  Philadelphia  neigh- 
bourhood.      The    estate    originally 
comprised   five   hundred   acres,    but 
is  now  a  park  of  some  six  acres  sur- 
rounded by  rows  of  the  little  brick 
homes  for  which  Philadelphia  is  widely  famous.     It  is 
the    connecting   link    between    Niceto^vn    and    German- 
town  and  is  near  the  Wayne  Junction  station  of  the  Phila- 
delphia &  Reading  Railway.     The  Wingohocking  Creek 
once  ran  through  the  grounds  but  is  now  conducted  be- 
neath the  surface.     Fine  oaks,  hemlocks,  and  pines  re- 
main about  the  house  but  an  avenue  of  sycamores  has  gone. 
The  house  is  built  of  brick  with  black  headers  and  is 
fifty-five  by  forty-two  feet  in  dimensions  with  a  separate 
range  of  servant  quarters,  kitchens,  and  greenhouses  ex- 
tending backward  one  hundred  and  ten  feet  farther.    The 
doorway  is  reached  by  three  curious  circular  stone  steps 
firmly  clamped  together  with  iron  bands.    It  opens  into  a 
great  hall,  paved  with  brick  and  wainscotted  in  white  to  the 
ceiling,  with  an  open  fireplace  on  the  right.     On  the  left 
is  a  dining-room,  also  wainscotted,  ^vith  a  cupboard  for 
china.     The  fireplace  in  this  room  has  blue  tiles  and  an 
iron  fireback  ornamented  with  the  initials  of  the  builder, 
"  J.  L.  1728."     On  the  right  is  the  south  parlour,  also 
panelled,  with  a  fireplace  surrounded  by  pink  tiles.     A 
stately  double  staircase  ascends  beyond  an  archway  in 

203 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PIIILADELPIUA 


the  rear,  on  either  side  of  which  there  are  lofty  rooms  also 
wainscotted  in  white.  The  one  on  the  left  is  a  small 
breakfast-room  reached  from  the  front  dining-room 
through  a  passageway.  Upon  the  threshold  there  is  a 
trapdoor  in  tlie  iloor  leading  to  an  underground  passage  to 
the  barns  and  burying  ground,  a  great  convenience  in 
times  of  stress  or  storm.  In  the  hallway  stands  an  iron 
chest  to  hold  the  silver,  with  fourteen  tumblers  to  the 
lock,  and  over  it  are  the  wooden  pegs  for  hats.  In  the 
rear  room  on  the  right  is  a  large  closet  with  a  sliding  top, 
where  a  person  might  be  concealed  to  listen  through  a 
small  opening  to  conversation  in  the  hall.  The  most  at- 
tractive room  is  the  library  on  the  second  floor,  which  ex- 
tends across  the  whole  front  of  the  house.  This  once  con- 
tained the  flnest  collection  of  books  of  any  private  library 
in  Colonial  America,  presented  by  the  collector,  James 
Logan,  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  Here  the  illustrious 
book-loving  statesman  and  scholar  spent  most  of  his  time 
during  his  declining  years.  There  are  two  fireplaces,  one 
with  blue  tiles  and  the  other  with  white.  There  is  a  little 
back  stairway  and  two  small  back  bedrooms  for  his  two 
daughters.  Each  room  has  a  fireplace.  On  the  third  floor 
there  is  no  paint  on  the  wainscot  or  woodwork  and  there  is 
a  little  door  under  the  eaves  opening  into  a  small  passage- 
way to  the  next  room.  In  fact  the  whole  house  is  filled  with 
quaint  nooks  and  corners  which  are  the  subjects  of  many 
a  strange  legend.  On  the  back  of  a  door  on  the  third  floor 
is  cut,  "  Willm.  Logan  jun.  wSail'd  for  England  Octobr. 
Ttli.  1703  Aetat  :  1-6-7"  The  copper  boiler,  the  bake 
oven,  the  big  fireplace,  and  the  crane  are  still  to  be  seen 
in  tlie  kitchen,  as  well  as  the  dovecote  on  its  exterior. 

204 


J      )    > 

)   3  > 


e 


a- 
«< 


SB     H 

i     § 

D 


STENTON 


James  Logan  was  born  October  20,  1674,  at  Lurgan, 
County  Armagh,  Ireland.  He  was  the  son  of  Patrick 
Logan  of  East  Lothian,  Scotland,  and  Isabella  Hume. 
He  was  the  descendant  of  a  long  line  of  the  flower  of 
Scottish  chivalry,  scholars,  and  gentlemen,  Chief  Logan 
being  the  Laird  or  Baron  of  Restalrig,  earlier  called 
Lestalric.  Patrick  Logan  was  graduated  Master  of  Arts 
at  Edinburgh  University,  was  a  clergyman  of  the  estab- 
lished church  of  Scotland  and  chaplain  to  Lord  Belhaven. 
In  1671  he  sought  refuge  from  the  turmoil  by  removing 
to  Ireland  and  joining  the  Society  of  Friends.  He  took 
charge  of  the  Latin  School  at  Lurgan  and  here  James 
Logan  learned  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew  before  he  was 
thirteen  years  of  age,  and  became  a  master  of  mathe- 
matics at  sixteen.  James  later  removed  to  London  where 
he  was,  for  a  while,  a  schoolmaster,  but  soon  entered  the 
shipping  trade  at  that  place  and  at  Bristol.  In  the 
spring  of  1699,  William  Penn  engaged  him  as  his  secre- 
tary and  together  they  came  to  America  in  the  Canter- 
bury. On  Penn's  departure  for  England  he  left  him  in 
charge  of  the  Province,  saying,  "  I  have  left  thee  an  un- 
common trust,  with  a  singular  dependence  on  thy  justice 
and  care." 

An  account  of  James  Logan's  life  is  an  account  of 
Pennsylvania.  For  half  a  century  he  was  a  most  potent 
factor  in  the  Provincial  affairs  and  was  the  centre  of  the 
volcanic  disturbances  which  affected  the  Colony.  Faith- 
ful to  the  Penn  family  and  loyal  to  the  desires  of  the 
Founder,  he  managed  Indian  affairs  with  great  skill  and 
it  was  largely  due  to  him  that  the  friendship)  and  alliance 

205 


(OLOXTAL   HOMES   OF   PIlILADELPniA 


between  them  and  the  Province  was  so  long  maintained. 
His  correspondence  was  much  with  the  literati  of  Europe 
and  often  embraced  Hebrew  or  Arabic  characters  and 
algebraic  formulas.  Sometimes  his  letters  convey  a  lively 
Greek  ode  and  often  they  were  written  in  Latin.  He 
published  essays  on  reproduction  in  plants,  aberration 
of  light,  translated  Cicero's  "  De  Senectute,"  Cato's 
"  Uisticha,"  and  treatises  on  history,  arch^Eology,  criticism, 
theology,  ethics,  natural  philosophy,  anatomy,  and  law. 
There  was  no  topic  of  science  or  literature  that  he  could 
not  discuss  with  the  scholars  of  his  time.  He  is  described 
as  tall  and  well  made,  with  a  graceful  yet  grave  de- 
meanour, a  good  complexion,  quite  florid  even  in  his  old 
age.  His  hair  was  brown  and  never  grey,  but  he  wore  a 
powdered  wig.  He  was  intolerant  of  the  narrow  distinc- 
tion of  some  Friends  and  believed  in  a  defensive  war  of 
resistance  to  aggression.  Thus  he  supported  Franklin 
for  the  protection  of  Philadelphia  in  the  French  Wars. 
He  engaged  in  business  with  Edward  Shippen,  but  his 
trade  or  his  public  service  never  led  him  from  his  aiFection 
for  the  muses.  He  was  Chief-Justice,  Provincial  Secre- 
tary, Commissioner  of  Property,  and  President  of  the 
Council.  He  acquired  a  fortune  in  commerce,  in  trade 
with  the  Indians,  and  by  the  purchase  and  sale  of  de- 
sirable tracts  of  land  in  all  parts  of  the  Colony  which  his 
position  of  Surveyor-General  gave  him  the  opportunity 
of  securing.  Thus  he  was  able  to  live  in  princely  style 
and  to  entertain  with  a  free  hand.  For  more  than  a  cen- 
tury Stenton  was  the  resort  of  notable  and  distinguished 
persons  of  the  Colonies  and  from  abroad,  and  its  mis- 


206 


STENTON 


tresses  were  among  the  most  accomplished  women  of  the 
time.  Among  the  visitors  to  the  house  were  John  Dick- 
inson, Edward  Shippen,  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke, 
Thomas  Pickering,  the  learned  and  witty  Portuguese, 
Abbe  Correa,  the  French  minister  Genet,  Doctor  Benja- 
min Franklin,  Thomas  Jefferson,  Richard  Peters,  and 
President  Washington.  At  Stenton,  Thomas  Godfrey, 
glazier,  by  accident  discovered  the  principle  upon  which 
he  invented  the  quadrant.  He  saw  a  piece  of  broken  glass 
which  had  fallen  so  as  to  reflect  the  sun,  and  upon  con- 
sulting a  volume  of  Newton  which  he  found  in  the  library, 
and  with  advice  from  James  Logan,  he  constructed  an  in- 
strument according  to  the  plan  in  his  mind. 

James  Logan  was  a  suitor  for  the  hand  of  the  beauti- 
ful Anne  Shippen,  Edward  Shippen's  daughter,  who 
married  Thomas  Story,  and  there  sprung  up  a  bitter  ri- 
valry between  the  colleagues  in  the  board  of  property, 
which  troubled  the  Founder  very  much.  On  the  sixteenth 
of  the  eleventh  month  Penn  wrote  to  Logan: 

I  am  anxiously  grieved  for  thy  unhappy  love  for  thy  sake 
and  my  own,  for  T.  S.,  and  thy  discord  has  been  for  no  service 
here  any  more  than  there;  and  some  say  that  come  thence  that 
thy  amours  have  so  altered  or  influenced  thee  that  thou  art 
grown  touchy  and  apt  to  give  rough  and  short  answers,  which 
many  call  haughty.  I  make  no  judgement,  but  caution  thee,  as 
in  former  letters,  to  let  truth  preside  and  bear  impertinence 
as  patiently  as  thou  canst. 

After  the  marriage  of  Anne  Shippen  and  Thomas 
Story,  he  wrote  Penn,  August  12,  1706: 

207 


COLONIAL    IIOMKS   OF    PIIILADKLPIIIA 

Thonms  Story  carries  very  well  since  his  marriage.  He  and 
I  are  great  friends,  for  I  tliink  the  whole  business  is  not  now 
worth  a  quarrel. 

On  the  ninth  of  the  tenth  month,  1714,  he  married 
Sarah,  daughter  of  Charles  and  Amy  Read,  after  a  ro- 
mantic courtship.  His  letters  to  her  are  very  tender  and 
full  of  spiritual  power.  To  them  were  born  seven  chil- 
dren: Sarah,  who  married  Isaac  Norris  of  Fairhill  and 
whose  daughter  Mary  married  John  Dickinson;  William, 
who  married  Hannah  Emlen  and  succeeded  to  Stenton; 
Hannah,  who  married  John  Smith,  and  James,  who  mar- 
ried Sarah  Armitt.     The  rest  died  without  issue. 

Perhaps  the  first  and  most  numerous  guests  at  Sten- 
ton were  the  Indians,  who  came  very  often  and  in  great 
numbers,  three  or  four  hundred  at  a  time,  and  stayed 
for  several  weeks.  They  lined  the  staircase  at  night  and 
passed  the  days  in  the  maple  grove.  Smaller  bands  made 
huts  on  the  grounds  and  remained  a  year  at  a  time.  The 
good  chief,  Wingohocking,  standing  with  Logan  on  the 
border  of  the  beautiful  stream  that  wound  through  the 
place,  proposed  a  change  of  names  after  the  Indian  cus- 
tom of  brotherhood.  Logan  explained  the  difficulty  to 
him  and  said: 

Do  tliou,  chief,  take  mine,  and  give  thine  to  this  stream  which 
passes  through  my  fields,  and  when  I  am  passed  away  and  while 
the  earth  shall  endure  it  shall  flow  and  bear  thy  name. 

Hannah  I^ogan,  the  youngest  of  the  two  daughters 
of  James  Logan,  was  named  after  Hannah  Penn;  Sarah, 
of  whom  the  fatlicr  wTites  in  172-1  to  Thomas  Story  in 
Kngland,  was  an  elder  sister. 

208 


»  5 

3  5     3-      J  >     > 

O  >     >    ^,>  >  ^ 

J  5  J     1    5    )  < 


I'AULOUK    AT    .STENTOX 


JAMKS    LOCAN  S    (WADLH    AM)    liVA)    AT    STENTOX 


STENTON 


Sally,  besides  her  needle,  has  been  learning  French,  and  this 
last  week,  has  been  very  busy  in  the  dairy  at  the  plantation,  in 
which  she  delights  as  well  as  in  spinning;  but  is  this  moment  at 
the  table  with  me  (being  first-day  afternoon  and  her  mother 
abroad),  reading  the  34th.  Psalm  in  Hebrew,  the  letters  of  which 
she  learned  very  perfectly  in  less  than  two  hours*  time,  an  ex- 
periment I  made  of  her  capacity  only  for  my  diversion  though,  I 
never  design  to  give  her  that  or  any  other  learned  language,  un- 
less the  French  be  accounted  such. 

An  interesting  comment  on  female  education  at  the 
time  and  housewifely  employments! 

Speaking  of  Hannah  Logan,  William  Black,  the  young 
Virginian  secretary  of  the  Indian  Commission  en  route 
to  make  a  treaty  with  the  Iroquois  at  Lancaster,  writes 
in  1744: 

I  was  really  very  much  surprised  at  the  Appearance  of  so 
Charming  a  Woman,  at  a  place  where  the  seeming  moroseness 
and  Goutified  Father's  Appearance  Promised  no  such  Beauty, 
tho'  it  must  be  allow'd  the  Man  seem'd  to  have  some  Remains 
of  a  handsome  enough  Person,  and  a  Complexion  beyond  his 
years,  for  he  was  turned  off  70:  But  to  return  to  the  Lady,  I 
declare  I  burnt  my  Lips  more  than  once,  being  quite  thoughtless 
of  the  warmness  of  my  Tea,  entirely  lost  in  Contemplating  her 
Beauties.  She  was  tall  and  Slender,  but  Exactly  well  Shap'd,  her 
Features  Perfect,  and  Complexion  tho'  a  little  the  whitest,  yet 
her  Countenance  had  something  in  it  extremely  Sweet.  Her 
Eyes  Express'd  a  very  great  Softness,  denoting  a  Compos'd  Tem- 
per and  Serenity  of  Mind,  Her  Manner  was  Grave  and  Reserved 
and  to  be  short  she  had  a  Sort  of  Majesty  in  her  Person,  and 
Agreeableness  in  her  Behaviour,'  which  at  once  surprised  and 
Charmed  the  Beholders : 

14  209 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


Katlier  a  remarkable  description  of  a  demure  Quak- 
eress from  a  Virginia  Cavalier! 

James  Logan  died  October  31,  1751,  and  was  buried 
in  the  Friends'  burying  ground  at  Fourth  and  Arch 
Streets.  He  was  succeeded  at  Stenton  by  his  son 
William,  who  had  married  Hannah  Emlen.  William 
Logan  had  been  educated  by  his  father  and  in  England. 
He  was  the  friend  of  the  Proprietary  interests  and  of 
the  Indians,  giving  them  homes  and  educating  their  chil- 
dren. He  executed  the  conveyance  of  the  Loganian 
Library  to  the  Library  Company  of  Philadelphia  accord- 
ing to  his  father's  wish. 

The  next  proprietor  at  Stenton  was  William  Logan's 
son  George,  who  was  born  there  in  1753.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  England  and  took  a  degree  in  medicine  at  Edin- 
burgh University,  travelling  extensively  in  France,  Italy, 
Germany,  and  Holland.  He  married  Deborah,  daughter 
of  Charles  Norris  of  Fairhill,  a  charming  lady  of  very  wide 
acquaintance  whose  hospitality  was  shared  by  most  of  the 
distinguished  foreigners  who  visited  Philadelphia  during 
her  occupancy  at  Stenton.  She  was  something  of  a 
poetess  and  thus  describes  her  home  in  a  sonnet: 

My  peaceful  home !  amidst  wliose  dark  green  shades 
And  sylvan  scenes  my  waning  life  is  spent, 
Nor  without  blessings  and  desired  content ! 
Again  the  spring  illumes  thy  verdant  glades 
And  rose-crowned  Flora  calls  Oeonian  maids 
To  grace  with  song  her  revels,  and  prevent, 
By  charmed  spells,  the  nipping  blasts  which,  bent 
From  Eurus  or  the  stormy  North,  pervades 
Her  treasures, — still  'tis  mine  among  thy  groves 

210 


STENTON 


Musing  to  roam,  enamour'd  of  the  fame 

Of  him  who  reared  these  walls  whose  classic  lore 

For  science  brightly  played,  and  left  his  name 

Indelible — by  honour,  too,  approved, 

And  Virtue  cherished  by  the  Muses'  flame. 

General  Washington  made  Stenton  his  headquarters 
August  23,  1777,  on  his  way  to  the  Brandywine  from 
Hartsville,  Pa.  He  came  with  twenty  officers  of  his  staff 
and  is  described  as  very  silent  and  grave  upon  this  oc- 
casion. Later,  as  President  of  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention sitting  in  Philadelphia,  on  Sunday,  July  8,  1787, 
he  rode  out  to  Stenton  with  Major  Daniel  Jenifer  to  see 
Doctor  George  Logan  for  the  purpose  of  looking  over 
some  farm  experiments.  He  was  interested  in  a  demon- 
stration of  the  use  of  land  plaster  on  grass  land,  which 
Doctor  Logan  illustrated  by  marking  out  initials  in  the 
sod.  Where  the  plaster  had  been  sown  on  these  letters 
the  grass  was  darker  and  more  luxuriant  than  elsewhere. 

On  Saturday,  November  22,  1777,  Sir  William  Howe 
gave  orders  to  destroy  the  houses  of  obnoxious  persons, 
and  by  order  of  Colonel  Twistleton  two  dragoons  came  to 
Stenton  to  fire  it.  They  told  the  negi'o  woman  whom 
they  encountered  there  that  she  could  remove  the  bedding 
and  clothing  while  they  went  to  the  stable  for  straw.  An 
officer  with  his  command  hapj^ened  to  come  at  the  time  and 
enquired  for  deserters.  The  vigilant  and  faithful  negress 
told  him  that  two  were  in  the  barn,  so  he  carried  them  away 
and  the  house  was  saved.  Sir  William  Howe  had  occu- 
pied it  as  his  headquarters  at  the  time  of  the  battle  of 
Germantown. 

211 


(OLOMAL    HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

Doctor  George  Logan  was  an  active  member  of  the 
Agricultural  and  Philosophical  Societies,  a  senator  from 
Pennsylvania  from  1801  to  1807,  and  was  much  concerned 
to  preserve  peace.  Upon  this  concern  he  visited  France 
in  1798  and  F^ngland  in  1810.  On  his  death  in  1821  Du 
Ponceau  said  of  him: 

And  art  thou  too  gone !  friend  of  man !  friend  of  peace !  friend 
of  science !  Tliou  whose  persuasive  accents  could  still  the  angry 
passions  of  rulers  of  men,  and  dispose  their  minds  to  listen  to  the 
voice  of  reason  and  justice. 

When  Deborah  Logan  died  in  1839,  the  estate  came 
to  her  son  Albanus  who  was  born  in  1783  and  married 
John  Dickinson's  daughter  Maria.  Albanus  was  an  agri- 
culturist and  was  devoted  to  field  sports.  He  had  a  gen- 
tle nature  and  through  a  long  protracted  suffering  before 
his  death  never  complained.  Two  children  graced  his 
union  with  Maria  Dickinson :  Gustavus,  who  married  Miss 
Armat  of  Loudoun,  and  John  Dickinson  Logan,  who 
wedded  Miss  Susan  Wister.  Gustavus  occupied  the 
house  and  his  children  Albanus  and  IVIaria  were  born 
there.  Since  the  occupancy  by  the  Colonial  Dames  and 
the  ownership  by  the  city  they  have  lived  at  Loudoun 
nearby. 

The  history  of  the  Logan  family  and  of  their  life  at 
this  splendid  Colonial  mansion,  while  only  one  of  many 
similar  instances,  is,  perhaps,  the  most  striking  2)roof  of 
the  incorrectness  of  a  common  modern  idea  regarding  the 
Quakers.  We  see  here  that  they  were  not  stiff-necked 
ascetics,  but  were  cultured  and  refined,  fond  of  beauty 

Hi 


STENTON 


and  pleasant  things,  and  of  a  lavish  hospitality.  Their 
portraits  which  adorn  the  walls  of  Stenton  are  witnesses 
to  all  that  has  been  said  about  them  and  exhibit  the  dress, 
not  of  a  peculiar  people,  but  of  those  who  practised  mod- 
eration according  to  the  admonition  of  William  Penn : 

Choose  thy  cloaths  by  thine  own  eyes,  not  anothers.  The 
more  simple  and  plain  they  are,  the  better.  Neither  unshapely 
nor  fantastical,  and  for  use  and  decency,  not  for  pride. 


LOUDOUN 

GEIIMANTOWN  ROAD  AND  APSLEY  STREET.  GERMANTOWN 

AR  MAT— LOGAN 


^^^^^OUDOUN  is  an  irregular  stone  plas- 
tered house  with  a  pillared  portico 
and  stands  at  the  summit  of  Neglee's 
Hill  just  above  Wayne  Junction 
station  of  the  Philadelphia  &  Read- 
ing Railway.  The  east  side  of  the 
"^  house  is  the  older;  the  portico  was 
added  about  1830.  In  the  original  distribution  of 
the  land  of  the  Frankfort  Company,  owners  of  what  is 
now  Germantown,  the  property  was  called  Side  Lot 
Number  2,  and  fell  by  the  lottery  held  in  the  cave  of 
Francis  Daniel  Pastorius,  about  where  Chestnut  Street 
wharf  now  is,  to  Thones  Kunders.  It  was  in  the  house  of 
Thones,  now  numbered  5109  Main  Street,  only  a  portion 
of  whose  wall  remains,  that  the  first  meeting  of  Friends 
was  held  in  Germantown. 

Loudoun  was  built  in  1801  by  Thomas  Armat,  the 
youngest  son  of  a  large  family  at  Dale-Head  Hall,  Cum- 
berland County,  England.  He  settled  first  in  Loudoun 
County,  Virginia,  and  thus  gave  its  name  to  the  country- 
seat  which  he  built  in  Germantown  for  his  son  Thomas 
Wright  Armat,  who  was  born  in  the  first  home.  The 
Armats  came  to  Philadelphia  about  the  time  of  the  Revo- 
hition  and  during  the  yellow-fever  epidemic  in  1793  moved 
to  Germantown,  residing  at  4788  IMain  Street,  afterward 
occupied  by  the  Ashmead  family. 

Mr.  Armat  was  a  merchant  in  Philadelphia  and  a  dis- 
tinguished  philanthropist.     He   contributed   the  ground 

214 


LOUDOUN 


on  which  St.  Luke's  Church,  Germantown,  now  stands  and 
aided  in  the  erection  of  the  building.  There  was  a  cham- 
ber in  his  home  at  Loudoun  called  the  Minister's  Room 
set  aside  for  the  incumbent  of  the  parish.  He  was  among 
the  first  to  suggest  coal  for  heating  and  patented  a  hay 
scales.  From  1820  to  1835  Loudoun  was  rented  bv 
Madame  Greland  as  a  school  for  young  ladies  whom  she 
brought  there  for  the  summer.  The  hill  was  a  hospital 
after  the  battle  of  Germantown  and  many  dead  were 
buried  in  the  grounds. 

Mr.  Armat's  daughter  married  Gustavus  Logan,  son 
of  Albanus  and  Maria  Dickinson  Logan,  great-great- 
grandson  of  James  Logan  and  grandson  of  John  Dickin- 
son. The  last  was  the  most  conspicuous  person  in  the 
service  of  the  State  from  1760  until  his  term  expired  as 
President  of  the  Supreme  Executive  Council  of  the  State 
in  1783.  From  the  meeting  of  the  Stamp  Act  Congress 
in  1765  until  his  death  in  1808,  he  was  a  prominent  fig- 
ure in  national  history.  He  was  the  first  to  advocate  re- 
sistance, on  constitutional  grounds,  to  the  ministerial  plan 
of  taxation  and  for  a  long  period  after  the  enforcement 
of  the  Boston  Port  Bill  he  controlled  the  counsels  of  the 
country.  He  courageously  maintained  that  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  was  inopportune  but  despite  this, 
and  the  fact  that  he  was  a  Friend,  fought  valiantly  in  the 
War  of  the  Revolution.  In  the  convention  which  framed 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  he  took  a  leading 
part  and  prepared  many  memorable  State  papers  at  the 
request  of  the  Continental  Congress. 

He  is,  perhaps,  best  known  for  his  "  Farmer's  Let- 

215 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


ters,"  addressed  to  tlie  people  of  Great  Britain,  which  em- 
bodied the  Pennsylvania  idea  and  brought  about  the  re- 
peal of  the  Stamp  Act,  so  well  were  they  regarded  abroad. 
He  lived  at  Fairhill  on  the  Germantown  Road  below  the 
town  and  was  the  son  of  Samuel  and  INIary  Cadwalader 
Dickinson,  ^Maryland  Quakers  who  lived  at  Crosia-dore 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland.  His  training  in  the 
law  was  received  with  John  Moland,  Esquire,  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  at  the  Middle  Temple  in  London. 

Loudoun  is  now  occupied  by  Albanus  Logan  and  his 
sister,  Miss  ^laria  Logan,  son  and  daughter  of  Gustavus. 

It  may  be  fairly  said  to  mark  the  beginning  of  Ger- 
manto^vn,  now  the  twenty-second  ward  of  Philadelphia. 
At  the  foot  of  its  lawn,  the  old  ]Main  Street  begins  its 
winding  way  toward  Chestnut  Hill.  In  early  days  the 
roadway  was  so  bad  that  one  gentleman  is  said  to  have  sad- 
dled his  horse  in  order  to  cross  it.  In  later  days  came  the 
railway  tracks  for  the  horse  cars,  solitary  and  infrequent, 
which  came  out  from  the  city  through  the  regions  of  Fair- 
hill  ^Meeting  (given  to  the  Society  of  Friends  by  the 
founder,  George  Fox),  Rising  Sun  Village,  and  Robert's 
^Meadow,  climbed  Neglee's  Hill  and  jingled  on  through 
the  toll-gate  at  Rittenhouse  Street  and  so  to  the  "  horse- 
car  depot  "  at  "  Carpenter's." 


GRUMBLETHORPE 

5261  GERMANTOWN  ROAD.  GERMANTOWN 
WISTER 


H  E  name  of  Wister,  whether 
spelled  er  or  ar,  is  a  familiar  one  to 
Philadelphians  and  particularly  to 
those  residing  in  Germantown. 
technically  known  as  the  twenty- 
second  ward  of  Philadelphia. 

Hans  Caspar  and  Anna  Kate- 
rina  Wiister  dwelt  at  Hillspach,  near  Heidelberg  in  Ger- 
many. Of  their  children  two  sons  came  to  Pennsylvania, 
the  first  being  Caspar  who  arrived  in  Philadelphia  by  the 
ship  William  and  Sarah,  in  September,  1717.  The  second 
son,  Johann,  reached  the  same  port  in  May,  1727.  Both 
brothers  prospered  and  became  the  heads  of  important 
houses.  In  his  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  King  in  1721,  Cas- 
par had  his  name  spelled  "  Wistar  "  through  the  mistake  of 
the  clerk  and  from  hun  are  descended  those  who  thus  spell 
their  names  to-day.  From  him  came  the  Doctor  Caspar 
Wistar  in  commemoration  of  whom  and  of  his  charming 
entertainments  were  established  the  famous  Wistar 
Parties  at  Fourth  and  Locust  Streets  which  made  the 
Saturday  nights  of  Philadelphia  so  well  and  favourably 
known  among  visitors  of  the  polite  and  cultivated  classes 
from  other  cities  and  abroad. 

In  May,  1727,  shortly  after  the  death  of  his  father, 
the  second  son  John  embarked  for  America  and  after  a 
long  and  stormy  passage  of  four  months  arrived  in  Phila- 
delphia. He  established  himself  in  ^larket  Street  west 
of  Third,  where  he  cultivated  blackberries,  made  and  im- 

217 


( OLOXIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

j)()rte(l  wine,  and  had  a  large  business.  He  was  thrice 
married  and  there  were  four  children  by  Salome  Zimmer- 
man and  five  by  Anna  Catherina  Kubinkam.  In  1744  he 
built  "  Wister's  Big  House  "  opposite  Indian  Queen  Lane 
and  now  numbered  5261  Main  Street.  The  stone  came 
from  Cedar  Hill  near  the  east  end  of  Bringhurst  Street 
where  it  touches  the  Philadelphia  &  Reading  Railway, 
and  the  woodwork  from  oak  trees  hewn  in  Wister's  woods. 
It  was  the  first  country  seat  in  Germantown,  was  two  and 
a  half  storeys  high  with  a  high-pitched  roof  over  a  garret 
without  dormers,  lighted  from  the  ends.  Across  the  front 
and  side  of  the  house  was  a  pent  roof  or  projecting  eaves 
marking  the  line  of  the  second  floor,  with  a  balcony  to 
break  its  imiformity  over  the  main  entrance,  upon  which 
opened  a  door  from  the  second  storey.  There  were  two 
chimneys,  stout  and  strong,  at  either  end.  The  main  en- 
trance was  centrally  placed,  with  two  windows  to  the 
right,  and  a  smaller  door  with  a  ^^^ndow  bounding  each 
side  of  it  to  the  left.  These  doors  were  upper  and  lower 
parted,  and  looked  out  upon  sidelong  seats.  In  1808  re- 
pairs and  changes  caused  the  pent  roof  to  vanish,  dormer 
windows  to  appear,  the  upper  door  and  balcony  to  make 
way  for  a  window  as  did  the  small  door  on  the  ground 
floor.  The  front  seats  and  railing-guard  as  well  as  the 
locust  trees  that  shaded  them  also  passed  away  and  the 
front  of  the  house  was  pebble  dashed.  A  long  wing  ex- 
tends eastward  and  in  its  shade  is  a  well  with  stone  steps 
leading  to  de])ths  where  the  provisions  were  kept.  Back 
of  this  is  the  workshop  with  its  rows  of  tools  and  store 
of  curiosities,  not  the  least  interesting  of  which  are  numer- 
als 


GRUMBLETHORPE 


ous  clocks  in  various  stages  of  completion.  Still  farther 
east  is  the  observatory  with  its  telescope  and  then  the 
beautiful  formal  garden  with  its  ancient  markings  of  box- 
bush,  out  of  which  rises  the  old  rain-gauge. 

The  hallway  is  spacious,  the  rooms  low  ceilinged  and 
the  great  fireplace  in  the  kitchen  still  holds  the  crane  and 
its  pots.  John  Wister  was  a  charitable  man  and  caused 
bread  to  be  baked  every  Saturday  which  he  distributed  to 
the  poor  who  came  to  his  door  for  it. 

His  hospitality  was  shared  by  many  famous  person- 
ages. Adjoining  him  on  the  south  was  Christopher  Sower, 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  in  the  Colonies.  He 
was  preacher,  tailor,  farmer,  apothecary,  surgeon,  bot- 
anist, clock  and  watchmaker,  bookbinder,  optician,  manu- 
facturer of  paper,  drew  wire  and  lead,  and  made  most  of 
the  materials  for  the  books  he  printed.  In  1739  he  issued 
the  first  almanac  and  in  1743  the  Bible  was  printed  by 
him  in  German,  forty  years  prior  to  its  appearance  here 
in  English.  He  commenced  his  newspaper  in  1739  and 
the  printing  business  has  been  carried  on  by  his  descend- 
ants down  to  the  present  day.  To  Grumblethorpe  also 
came  Gilbert  Stuart,  the  gifted,  jovial  artist.  Squire 
Baynton,  David  Conyngham,  Reuben  Haines,  "  Ben " 
Shoemaker,  Daniel  and  Jolm  Jay  Smith,  Doctor  George 
Bensel,  physician  and  poet,  Isaiah  Lukens,  a  mathemati- 
cal expert,  Thomas  Say,  the  great  entomologist  and  presi- 
dent of  the  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences, 
Parker  Cleveland,  the  writer  of  the  first  book  upon  Ameri- 
can mineralog}^  Doctor  W.  S.  W.  Ruschenberger,  trav- 
eller and  writer,  Professor  James  Nichol,  a  celebrated 

219 


(OI.OMAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

geologist  and  writer,  of  Glasgow,  Reverend  Lewis  David 
von  Scliweinitz,  fungologist,  of  Bethlehem,  and  many 
others  illustrious  in  science,  literature,  and  art. 

At  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Germantown  General 
Agnew  of  the  British  Army  made  his  headquarters  in 
the  house  and  being  brought  wounded  into  the  northwest 
parlour  died  there  and  stained  the  floor  with  his  blood. 
The  marks  of  the  bloodstains  are  still  to  be  seen.  Major 
Lenox,  who  occupied  the  house  in  1779,  was  married  in 
this  room  under  the  ring  in  the  centre  as  w^as  also  William 
Wister  of  Belfield. 

jNIajor  Lenox  was  an  Irishman  by  birth,  said  to  be 
the  brother  of  the  Earl  of  JNIoira  and  a  relative  of  Lord 
Fitzgerald  of  Kildare.  His  town  houses  were,  at  various 
times,  Spruce  near  Second  Street,  Vine  near  Third, 
Arch  below  Ninth,  286  Chestnut,  and  at  Tenth  and  Chest- 
nut Streets.  The  major  was  a  member  of  tlie  First  City 
Troop  in  1777,  marshal  of  the  United  States  for  the  Dis- 
trict of  Pennsylvania,  director  of  the  LTnited  States  Bank 
and  its  president,  succeeding  Thomas  Willing.  He  Avas 
also  this  country's  rejDresentative  at  the  Court  of  St. 
James  and  brought  much  handsome  furniture  home  with 
him.  While  living  at  the  Wister  house  in  Germantown  he 
was  a  participant  in  the  relief  of  "  Fort  Wilson,"  at  Third 
and  Walnut  Streets  on  October  4,  1779,  and  this  so  en- 
raged the  turbulent  soldiery  that  they  aroused  him  from 
his  slumbers  a  few  nights  afterward  and  to  the  number 
of  about  two  hundred  proceeded  to  assault  the  house.  Lie 
secured  it  as  best  he  could  and  harangued  tliem  from 
the  front  balcony.     His  cousin,  a  young  lady  staying  at 

220 


GRUMBLETHORPE 


the  house,  fled  on  foot  at  midnight  to  the  city  and  sum- 
moned the  City  Troop  to  his  rescue. 

John  Wister's  eldest  son,  Daniel,  succeeded  to  the 
property  and  became  a  prosperous  merchant  at  325  Mar- 
ket Street.  He  married  Lowry  Jones  of  Wynnewood 
and  had  ten  children,  of  whom  the  light-hearted  Sally 
AVister  was  one.  During  the  British  occupation,  the  fam- 
ily went  to  the  Foulke  place  at  Penllyn,  and  it  was  here 
that  Sally  wrote  her  charming  Journal.  Therein  she  re- 
lates an  interesting  story  of  the  life-size  British  grena- 
dier which  Major  Andre  painted  as  one  of  the  decora- 
tions for  the  "  Mischianza  "  and  which  stands  in  the  hall- 
way at  Grumblethorpe.  The  Foulke  house  was  the  re- 
sort of  many  American  officers  at  the  time,  and  one  of 
these,  young  Major  Tilly  of  Virginia,  was  a  talkative, 
boastful  fellow  who  constantly  proclaimed  his  desire  to 
meet  the  British  in  battle.  To  test  his  courage  Daniel 
Wister,  with  the  connivance  of  the  other  American  offi- 
cers, had  the  grenadier  placed  outside  the  front  door  with 
a  person  behind  it.  A  rap  at  the  door  and  the  officers 
started  to  their  feet  in  evident  alarm.  Tilly  led  the  way 
and  when  the  door  opened  the  faint  glimmer  of  the  lan- 
tern showed  the  figure  which  demanded  in  gruff  tones, 
"Are  there  any  rebel  officers  in  this  house?"  Without 
stopping  Tilly  fled  out  of  the  back  door  and  on  towards 
Washington's  camp.  He  had  not  gone  far,  however,  be- 
fore he  fell  into  the  mill  pond  and  was  brought  home  in 
disgrace  by  his  fellow-officers.  It  is  related,  that  he  took 
it  with  good  grace  and  equanimity.  The  original  manu- 
script of  Sally  Wister's  Journal  and  a  journal  of  her  later 

2^1 


( OT.ONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


years,  a  manuscript  diary  of  John  Kelpius  the  hermit  of 
the  Wissahickon,  a  crayon  dra-vving  of  Peggy  Chew  by 
Andre,  a  wagstaff  twenty-four-hour  clock  imported  from 
London,  a  musical  clock  constructed  by  Isaiah  Lukens, 
2)aintings  of  old  Germantown  by  Charles  J.  Wister,  Jr., 
the  model  of  the  original  Wister  house,  an  inscription 
"  Headquarters  of  General  Agnew,"  and  much  fine  old 
furniture  and  rare  books,  are  some  of  the  treasures  of  the 
house  distributed  about  in  its  rooms. 

Charles  J.  Wister  was  the  son  of  Daniel  and  in  his 
many  travels  had  strange  and  humorous  adventures 
through  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia.  He  went  daily  to 
town  on  business  until  1819  after  which  he  led  a  retired 
life  devoted  to  science.  He  was  a  botanist  and  mineralo- 
gist and  lectured  upon  these  subjects  at  the  Germantown 
Academy,  of  whose  Board  of  Trustees  he  was  the  secre- 
tary for  thirty  years.  He  built  the  observatory  still 
standing  and  was  a  familiar  figure  in  the  old  town  among 
the  group  that  gathered  in  the  rear  of  Jabez  Gates's  store 
at  Bringhurst  Street  or  at  the  toll-house  of  Enos  Springer 
at  the  corner  of  Rittenhouse.  He  it  was  who  gave  the 
name  to  the  place  in  a  spirit  of  jest  but  which  has  held  on. 

Perhaps  the  most  famous  feature  of  Grumblethorpe 
is  its  garden  developed  to  its  greatest  extent  by  Charles 
J.  Wister.  It  covers  an  area  of  one  hundred  and 
eighty-eight  by  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  and  is 
bounded  on  the  east  by  a  vegetable  garden,  the  total 
length  of  the  tract  from  the  Main  Street  to  Wakefield 
Street  being  nine  hundred  feet.  It  is  a  formal  gar- 
den,   having    a    central    walk    flanked    by    rectangular. 


'         5)1      >   >  . 


VERNON,  VKRXOX  PARK,  GERMANTOWN 

Built  l)V  Jaiii.-i  Matlhcws,  1S03 


CMtrMHI.iniM'Kl'K,     Nl'MHKK    oiOl    (iEIlM  A  \H  >\\  \     1{<  lAP 
Miiill  liv  .T..lin  WiOcr.  \7H 


GRUMBLETHORPE 


semi-circular,  and  angular  beds,  conforming  to  lines  radi- 
ating from  the  central  to  two  outlying  bounding  paths 
bordered  with  box.  Famous  old  trees,  arbours,  colour, 
and  brightness  of  bewildering  variety  crowd  each  other 
here  and  it  is  hard  to  realise  that  this  rural  gem  is  situated 
directly  upon  the  principal  business  street  and  near  the 
centre  of  modern  Germantown. 

Charles  J.  Wister  died  July  23,  1865,  in  the  eighty- 
fourth  year  of  his  age,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Charles  J.  Wister,  Jr.,  an  artist  and  writer  who  faith- 
fully treasured  the  trust  of  an  honoured  line.  Through 
his  writings  have  been  preserved  much  that  is  interesting 
of  old  Germantown  and  through  his  tranquil  sweet  life 
the  community  has  been  greatly  affected.  His  interest 
in  the  affairs  of  the  town  was  active  until  his  death  in 
1910,  when  he  was  the  president  of  the  Site  and  Relic 
Society  and  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Germantown 
Academy,  of  which  he  had  been  a  member  for  forty-two 
years.  He  died  in  the  faith  of  his  fathers  and  was  laid 
away  with  them  in  the  Friends'  burying  ground  on  Coulter 
Street.  The  property  was  shared  by  the  nephews,  Owen 
Wister,  the  novelist,  and  Alexander  W.  Wister,  but  they 
do  not  reside  there,  and  Grumblethorpe  is  at  present 
unoccupied. 


VERNON 

GERMANTOVVN  ROAD,  GERMANTOWN 
IMAITHEWS— WISTER 


the  west  side  of  Main  Street  in 
Germantown  running  through  to 
Greene  Street  stands  Vernon  in  the 
midst  of  Vernon  Park  above  Chelten 
Avenue.  It  was  built  in  1803  by 
James  Matthews  of  the  firm  of  Mc- 
Allister &  JNIatthews,  whipmakers. 
Therefore,  it  is  not  truly  a  Colonial  Home,  but  is  such  a 
fine  example  of  the  architecture  of  that  time  and  occupies 
such  a  distinguished  position  that  it  was  thought  worthy 
of  notice. 

Vernon  was  purchased  in  1812  by  John  Wister,  the 
son  of  Daniel  Wister,  a  member  of  the  countinghouse  of 
his  uncle,  William  Wister,  after  whose  death  he  continued 
the  business  with  his  brother  Charles.  John  Wister  was 
a  distinguished  Friend  and  his  statue  in  bronze,  repre- 
sented as  clad  in  the  dignified  garb  of  the  Society,  has 
been  placed  before  his  house.  His  was  a  well-known  and 
still  remembered  figure  about  Germantown  where  he  died 
December  10,  1862.  When  the  property  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  city  for  a  park  some  years  ago  the  house 
was  occupied  by  the  Free  Library,  but  since  the  erection 
of  the  adjacent  building  for  this  purpose  it  has  been 
utilized  as  the  home  and  the  museum  of  the  Site  and  Relic 
Society,  where  are  displayed  many  relics  and  views  of  an- 
cient Germantown. 


PEROT— MORRIS  HOUSE 

5442  GERMANTOWN  ROAD,  GERMANTOWN 

DESCHLER— PEROT— MORRIS 


1^  X  no  part  of  Philadelphia  are  so  many 
stately  and  historic  mansions  so 
closely  grouped  together  as  in  Ger- 
mantown.  On  two  occasions  when 
the  first  President  of  the  United 
States  and  the  members  of  his  Cabi- 
net came  hither  for  fear  of  the  pesti- 
lence in  the  city,  Germantown  became,  for  the  nonce,  the 
Capital  of  the  country. 

The  house  in  which  President  Washington  lived,  the 
only  one  now  standing,  except  of  course  Mount  Vernon, 
which  served  as  his  home  for  any  considerable  time, 
is  at  5442  Main  Street.  The  heavy  old  panelled  door 
flanked  by  rounded  pillars  with  a  moulded  pediment  atop 
is  reached  by  a  flight  of  three  broad  stone  steps.  A  great 
iron  latch  on  the  inner  side,  along  with  the  fastenings  and 
brass  knob  are  the  same  that  Washington  handled  in  his 
goings-out  and  comings-in.  Two  windows  on  each  side 
of  the  doorway  pierce  the  wall  of  evenly  hewn  grey  Ger- 
mantown stone,  while  a  range  of  five  windows  lights  the 
second  floor.  A  spacious  hall,  forty  feet  in  depth,  runs 
through  the  middle  of  the  house  and  widens  out  back 
of  the  front  rooms  where  a  graceful  stairway  with  land- 
ings ascends  to  the  second  floor.  Opposite  the  stairway 
is  the  door  to  Washington's  breakfast  room  whence  the 
windows  look  out  upon  a  charming  garden,  scrupulously 
kept  in  its  pristine  condition,  whose  box  edges  coeval  with 

15  225 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


the  house,  mark  off  the  borders  of  old-fashioned  flowers 
from  the  greenest  of  lawns.  Rooms  and  halls  are  all 
panelled  ^^^th  white-painted  woodwork  up  to  a  chair-rail, 
while  above  the  fireplace  in  each  room  is  an  overmantel 
panel,  nearlj^  five  feet  square,  so  cunningly  fitted  that  no 
joints  can  be  discerned — a  very  triumph  of  Colonial 
joiner3\  Facings  of  dark  Pennsylvania  marble  surround 
the  fireplaces. 

The  house  was  built  in  1772  by  David  Deschler,  a  son 
of  an  aide-de-camp  to  the  reigning  Prince  of  Baden  and 
JSIargaret,  a  sister  of  Caspar  Wistar  and  John  Wister. 
This  variation  in  spelling  the  surname  of  brothers  is  else- 
where explained.  David  Deschler  was  a  West  India 
merchant  and  had  his  countinghouse  on  the  north  side 
of  Market  Street  west  of  Grindstone  Alley.  Like  most 
of  those  who  sent  their  ventures  afloat  for  the  wealth  of 
the  tropic  seas,  he  prospered  exceedingly  and  became  one 
of  the  eminently  substantial  men  of  his  day.  As  did  many 
other  laymen  of  that  period,  he  dabbled  somewhat  in  mat- 
ters medical  and  invented  the  salve  that  still  bears  liis 
name,  a  salve  that  Doctor  Wistar  thought  sufficiently  well 
of  to  include  its  recipe  in  his  Pharmacopoeia. 

During  the  battle  of  Germantown,  Sir  William  Howe 
had  his  headquarters  at  Stenton,  but  after  the  retreat  of 
the  Americans  he  moved  out  to  Deschler's  house  and 
while  there,  it  is  said,  he  was  visited  by  Prince  William 
Henr}%  a  midshipman  in  the  Royal  Navy,  afterward  King 
William  IV  of  England. 

Deschler  was  a  striking  figure  in  the  old  town.  He 
had  a  handsome  face  and  manly  form  which  he  adorned 

226 


' , '  ."  > 


>  ,  >       »  3      5' 


'>,'      5    ',>     3 


5  >  )JJS33  ^5'3'5    3'->51 


PEROT— MORRIS  HOUSE 


with  olive-coloured  silk,  velvet  knee-breeches  with  buckles, 
silk  stockings,  bright  silver-buckled  shoes  and  topped  it 
all  off  with  the  usual  three-looped  hat.  He  had  a  great 
appreciation  of  the  beauties  of  nature  and  would  have 
built  his  house  wider  than  forty  feet  had  it  not  been  for 
a  plum  tree  that  he  had  not  the  heart  to  cut  down.  Along- 
side, to  the  south,  is  a  beautiful  garden  one  hundred  feet 
wide  and  extending  westward  back  of  the  house  more  than 
four  hundred  feet. 

Upon  the  death  of  David  Deschler,  in  1792,  the  prop- 
erty was  sold  to  Colonel  Isaac  Franks,  a  New  Yorker 
by  birth,  who  had  served  with  gallantry  in  the  Continental 
Armv,  and  had  received  several  wounds  in  the  service. 
After  the  conclusion  of  peace  ^nth  Great  Britain  he 
filled  various  civil  commissions,  being  appointed  by  Gov- 
ernour  Mifflin  in  1794  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Second 
Regiment  of  Philadelphia  County  Brigade  of  ISIilitia  and 
again  in  1795  as  justice  of  the  peace  in  the  district  com- 
prising the  townships  of  Germantown  and  Roxborough. 
Between  1803  and  1806  he  moved  to  Ephrata,  Lancaster 
County,  where  he  appears  in  straitened  circumstances, 
claiming  in  1811  a  sum  owed  him  by  the  government  for 
an  "  erroneous  credit "  given  the  United  States  while  he 
was  serving  as  forage  master  at  West  Point  during  the 
Revolution.  He  tried  to  secure  an  appointment  in  the 
Quartermaster's  Department  and  a  pension,  the  latter 
being  granted  in  1819.  He  died  as  prothonotary  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania,  at  55  Cherry  Street, 
Philadelphia,  March  4,  1822. 

During  the  yellow- fever  epidemic  of  1793,  German- 

227 


COLONIAL    IIOMKS   OF    PIULADKLPIIIA 

town's  private  houses  and  inns  were  filled  to  overflowing 
with  refugees  from  the  plague-stricken  city.  As  the  first 
Monday  in  December  approached,  the  President  became 
greatly  concerned  about  the  meeting  place  of  the  Con- 
gress. He  Avas  uncertain  wiiether  to  assemble  it  elsewhere 
than  in  the  city  and  wrote  for  an  opinion  to  the  members 
of  his  Cabinet  and  the  officers  of  the  govermnent,  stating 
that  "  Time  presses,  and  the  malady,  at  the  usual  place  of 
meeting,  is  becoming  more  and  more  alarming."  On 
September  30,  1793,  he  writes  from  Mount  Vernon  to  the 
attorney-general,  Edmund  Randolph,  already  removed  to 
Germantown: 

The  continuation  and  spreading  of  the  malignant  fever,  with 
which  the  city  of  Philadelphia  is  visited,  together  with  the  ab- 
sence of  the  heads  of  departments  therefrom,  will  prolong  my 
abode  at  this  place  until  about  the  25th.  of  October;  at  or  about 
wliich  time,  I  shall  myself,  if  the  then  state  of  things  should  ren- 
der it  improper  for  me  to  take  my  family,  set  out  for  that  city, 
or  the  \'icinity,  say  Germantown. 

He  then  requests  Randolph  to  secure  lodgings  for 
himself,  servants  and  horses  in  or  near  Germantown,  de- 
claring explicitly  "  that  it  is  hired  lodgings  only  I  will  go 
into;  for  unless  such  can  be  had,  I  would  repair  to  one  of 
the  most  decent  inns." 

Randolph  replies  from  Germantown,  October  22: 

.  .  .  I  found  that  Major  Franks  had  agreed  to  let  you  have 
liis  liouse.  But  the  terms  are  excessive;  being  no  less  than  150 
pounds  per  annum,  or  for  a  shorter  period,  not  under  six  months, 
at  the  same  rate.  Except  a  looking  glass  or  two,  and  a  few 
pictures,  he  will  not  suffer  any  of  the  furniture  to  remain;  tho' 
I  liave  prevailed  upon  his  agent  to  permit  a  couple  of  beds  and 

228 


PEROT— MORRIS  HOUSE 


some  chairs  and  tables  to  continue,  until  you  can  accommodate 
yourself  from  some  other  quarter. 

Fancy  dictating  such  terms  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States!  Colonel  Franks  fled  to  Bethlehem  to 
avoid  danger  of  the  fever,  and  his  agent  not  being  will- 
ing to  let  the  house  for  a  period  of  less  than  six  months, 
Randolph  secured  lodgings  from  the  Reverend  Frederick 
Herman,  headmaster  of  the  Germantown  Academy,  whose 
house  was  next  the  school  buildings  in  School  House 
Lane.  Here  the  President  remained  from  November  1 
to  November  10,  when  he  set  out  on  a  trip  to  Lancaster 
and  Reading.  Before  leaving,  however,  he  wrote  a  per- 
sonal note  to  Colonel  Franks  at  Bethlehem  asking  for  the 
use  of  his  house.  The  colonel  immediately  responded  by 
hiring  a  light  two-horse  wagon  and  setting  out  with  Mrs. 
Franks,  to  put  the  house  in  order  for  the  President's  occu- 
pancy, which  began  upon  his  return  on  the  sixteenth.  It 
seems  that  the  stipulation  about  the  furniture  must  have 
been  waived,  for  we  find  that  Colonel  Franks  made  a  care- 
ful inventory  of  what  the  house  contained  at  the  time. 

It  is  perhaps  the  most  interesting,  authentic  and  com- 
plete list  of  the  furnishings  of  a  Colonial  house  in  Penn- 
sylvania that  we  have  and  so  is  given  in  full : 

First  Right  Hand  Room 
Curtains,  2  blinds,  two  winer  blinds,  Do.  Do.  curtains,  one  look- 
ing glass,  six  chairs  with  chintz  bottoms,  one  looking  glass,  1  Din- 
ing table,  one  breakfast  table,  one  open  stove,  one  pair  of  plated 
candlesticks,  Double  set  of  Nankin  China  72  pieces,  1  large  waiter, 
1  large  waiter,  1  snufF  tray,  1  pair  hand  irons,  shovel  and  tongs, 
1  plated  goblet  pint  cup  with  two  handles,  2  large  pictures. 

229 


(OLOMAI.    HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


First  Left  Hand  Room 
2  chintz  window  curtains,  1  Green  Blinds,  1  Looking  Glass, 
2  Gerandoles,  1  Dining  table,  2  Mkhogany  Ami  Chairs,  8  Ma- 
hogany stuffed  Bottom  chairs,  1  pair  large  Hand  Irons,  shovel 
and  tongs,  2  Gerandoles,  4  pictures,  1  pair  plated  candlesticks, 
1  set  mantel  china, — 82  Rails,  15  posts. 

In  the  back  room  adjoining 
One  C.  Table,  4  window  chairs,  2  small  pictures,  China  in 
the  closet,  9  china  plates,  2  plates  sauce  boats  and  china  choco- 
late pot,  1  plated  castor,  1  large  Cliina  Tureen,  1  china  punch 
bowl,  1  china  sugar  dish,  1  pair  of  hand  irons,  shovel  and  tongs — 
brass. 

In  the  First  Kitchen 
1  EngHsh  guttered  gridiron,  3  flat  brass  candle  sticks,  1  spit, 
1  flesh  fork,  1  egg  slice,  1  cullender,  3  iron  ladles,  1  iron  ladle  and 
dredging  box,  2  funnels,  2  graters,  1  pair  of  Snuff'ers,  1  qt. 
Tankard,  1  pint  mug,  9  flat  irons  and  stand,  1  cheese  Toaster,  1 
iron  fork  large,  3  patty  pans. 

Up  Stairs,  in  the  bed  chamber  on  the  right  hand 
One  bed  stead  and  curtains,  one  bed  bolster  and  pillows,  2 
blankets,  a  green  rug  and  a  white  counterpane,  1  looking  glass, 
1    Bureau,  and  cover,  1   pair  hand  irons,  shovel  and  tongs,  one 
carpet  and  fine  side  carpet. 

In  Bed  room  opposite 
One  Bed  stead,  2  Beds,  1  Bolster  and  pillows,  one  pair  sheets, 
one  pair  pillow  sheets,  6  blankets,  one  chintz  bed  stead,  1  look- 
ing glass,  1  Table,  1  Arm  chair,  4  chairs  with  covers,  1  carpet, 
1  mahogany  chest  and  drawers,  1  Table,  1  chair,  and  2  benches 
and  one  Tamil,  a  comer  cupboard,  one  picture,  one  coff*ee  mill, 
1  black  pitcher,  3  coff'ee  pots,  1  tin,  1  china,  1  large  copper,  4 
Decanters,  9  Elegant  Wine  glasses,  6  cups  and  saucers,  1  Milk 

290 


PEROT— MORRIS  HOUSE 


I)ot,  1  mustard  pot,  1  slop  bowl,  1  Tin  Kettle  with  cover,  32 
plates,  4  large  dishes,  2  gravy  Tureens,  1  salt  box,  1  salid  dish. 

In   Back   Kitchen   adjoining 

1  Tamil,  1  Table,  3  chafing  dishes,  1  lantern,  2  frying  pans, 
4  Iron  pots  and  one  iron  cover,  2  chairs,  3  pails,  1  Table  and 
ironing  board,  2  Tea  Kettles,  4  candlesticks,  2  copper  Kettles, 
1  Tin  Mug,  1  pepper  mill,  2  pair  of  irons,  2  pair  of  pot  hooks,  1 
sand  sieve,  1  rolling  pin,  1  pair  of  bellows,  2  pair  of  pot  hooks, 
1  large  copper  sauce  pan,  1  quart  black  mug,  1  bench,  1  brass 
washing  kettle,  3  washing  tubs. 

In  Back  Room 

2  chairs,  1  writing  desk,  &c.,  and  Table. 

In  Stable 
21/2  tons  of  hay,  1  cart,  1  open  stove,  1  six  plate  stove,  27 
fowls,  20  ducks,  one  Iron  fender. 

His  account  rendered  for  the  use  of  the  house  included 
his  expenses  to  and  from  Bethlehem  for  two  trips,  cost- 
ing $40.00,  for  bedding  and  furniture,  $12.00,  which  he 
was  compelled  to  hire  in  place  of  his  own,  $2.50  "  For 
cleaning  my  house  and  putting  it  in  the  same  condition 
the  President  received  it  in,"  and  $4.40  for  breakage. 
All  of  these  charges,  added  to  the  rent  of  $66.66  made  a 
total  of  $131.56  which  seems  to  have  been  disputed,  for 
the  bill  was  not  settled  for  nearly  four  months  after- 
ward and  then  by  a  payment  of  $75.56. 

Here,  then,  met  the  Cabinet  of  the  United  States, 
Jefferson,  Hamilton,  Knox,  and  Randolph,  to  discuss 
many  important  matters.  There  was  the  President's 
speech  and  message  to  Congress  to  prepare,  the  trouble 

231 


( OLOMAL   HOMES   OF   rillLADELPIIIA 

"vvitli  France  and  with  Citizen  Genet  to  settle,  many 
troubles  with  England  and  some  with  Spain  to  straighten 
out,  the  tliree  mile  limit  of  jurisdiction  at  sea  to  settle 
upon,  the  recommendation  for  the  establishment  of  a  mili- 
tary academy  to  consider,  and  many  matters  of  internal 
government  to  decide. 

Fearing  the  return  of  the  yellow  fever,  but  with  the 
ostensible  object  of  escaping  the  heat  of  the  city,  Wash- 
ington arranged  with  Colonel  Franks  to  take  the  house 
during  the  following  summer  for  a  period  of  about  six 
weeks.  There  accompanied  him  on  this  occasion  Mrs. 
Washington,  and  her  two  grandchildren,  Eleanor  Parke 
Custis  and  George  Washington  Parke  Custis.  Two  loads 
of  furniture  were  also  sent  out  from  Philadelphia,  and  on 
July  30  the  family  moved  out.  George  W.  P.  Custis  was 
enrolled  as  a  student  at  the  Germantown  Academy  and 
his  attendance  there  is  still  treasured  with  the  recollection 
of  Washington's  appearing  at  the  school  during  that  time. 

The  President's  family  at  this  time  conveniently  wor- 
shipped in  the  German  Reformed  Church  diagonally 
across  the  Market  Square  from  the  house,  and  Washing- 
ton became  a  familiar  figure  to  the  townspeople  either  on 
horseback,  in  his  carriage,  or  talking  freely  with  them. 
Mrs.  Washington  was  remembered  leaning  out  of  the 
little  window  on  the  stair  landing,  talking  to  her  neigh- 
bour, Mrs.  Bringhurst,  in  the  adjoining  garden.  The 
President  was  compelled  to  ride  into  town  several  times 
a  week  on  account  of  the  pressure  of  public  business. 

They  were  in  the  house  until  September  20,  when  they 
moved  back  into  the  citv.     Colonel  Franks's  bill  for  the 

232 


PEROT— MORRIS  HOUSE 


rent  of  the  house  six  weeks  was  $201.60.  Washington, 
however,  had  left  on  the  thirtieth  of  the  preceding  month 
on  a  journey  to  Carlisle  to  put  down  an  insurrection 
among  the  people  of  Western  Pennsylvania.  He  set  out 
in  his  "  single-seated  phaeton  drawn  by  four  fine  gray 
horses,"  accompanied  by  Alexander  Hamilton,  riding  on 
horseback  on  his  left,  and  his  private  secretary,  Bartholo- 
mew Dandridge,  riding  on  his  right.  They  went  out 
School  House  Lane  and  up  the  Township  Line  in  order  to 
escape  a  troop  of  cavalry  drawn  up  to  escort  him  through 
the  village. 

In  1804  the  property  was  purchased  by  Elliston  and 
John  Perot,  two  Frenchmen,  who  after  several  residences 
in  America  finally  located  in  Philadelphia  and  did  a  large 
and  extended  business.  Upon  the  death  of  Elliston  Perot 
in  1834,  it  was  purchased  by  his  son-in-law,  Samuel  B. 
Morris,  of  the  shipping  firm  of  Wain  &  Morris.  The 
present  owner,  Elliston  Perot  JNIorris,  was  a  son  of  this 
marriage  and  came  into  the  property  at  the  death  of  his 
father  in  1859. 

JNIr.  Samuel  B.  Morris  took  much  interest  in  the  im- 
provement of  the  old  JNIarket  Square  opposite  the  house. 
At  the  end  farthest  from  the  city  stood  an  old-fashioned, 
brick  pier,  open  markethouse,  and  by  its  side,  surmounted 
by  a  little  white  spire,  the  Fellowship  engine  house, 
wherein  was  housed  the  wooden-wheeled  hand-engine, 
brought  from  England  and  thought  to  have  been  built 
in  1734.  Beside  it  stood  a  larger  hand-engine  of  later 
date,  and  a  bucket-wagon  filled  with  leathern  buckets  and 
a  small  reel  of  hose. 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


L^pon  one  corner  of  the  square  once  stood  the  Dela- 
])hiinL'  house,  where  Whitefield  preached  from  the  bal- 
cony in  1739  to  five  thousand  people.  On  another  stood 
the  bank  of  the  United  States  and  on  still  another  the 
house  of  Bronson  Alcott  where  Louisa  M.  Alcott  was 
born.  William  Penn  preached  in  Jacob  Tellner's  house 
where  the  Saving's  Fund  Building  now  stands,  and  in 
the  square  originally  stood  the  public  scales,  prison,  and 
stocks,  for  even  placid  Germantown  had  its  culprits  for 
whom  the  strong  arm  of  the  law  was  needed.  Delega- 
tions of  Indians,  stopping  in  Germanto>\Ti,  were  fed  at 
the  Market  Square  and  here  the  Paxtang  Boys  stopped 
on  February  6,  1764,  and  w^ere  met  by  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin, Benjamin  Chew,  Thomas  Willing,  and  Joseph  Gallo- 
way, who  persuaded  them  to  return  to  their  homes  with- 
out violence.  Count  Zinzendorf  preached  in  the  Ger- 
man Church  where  Washington  worshipped  and  the 
Ninth  Virginia  were  captured  and  confined  there  at  the 
time  of  the  battle. 

Samuel  Morris  planted  grass  and  a  row  of  trees  along 
the  curb,  protecting  them  from  injury  by  neatly  painted 
wooden  boxes.  With  the  idea  of  stirring  his  wrath,  some 
boys  uprooted  all  the  boxes  with  frantic  yells  one  even- 
ing w^hile  the  family  were  at  supper.  Mr.  Morris  re- 
placed them  the  next  day  with  the  same  result.  Finally 
he  hid  behind  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  markethouse  and, 
catching  the  boys  about  to  repeat  their  trick,  appealed 
to  them  to  care  for  the  trees  so  that  after  he  had  passed 
away  they  could  walk  with  their  children  imder  the  shade 
of  the  branches.  This  proved  efficacious  and  the  trees 
were  left  undisturbed. 

234 


PEROT— MORRIS  HOUSE 


Of  unusual  beauty,  the  interior  of  the  house  remains 
unchanged  and  many  relics  of  furniture,  china,  and  sil- 
verware used  by  Colonel  Franks  and  Washington  are  pre- 
served as  well  as  the  letter  from  the  latter  to  Captain 
Samuel  Morris  conveying  thanks  for  the  valuable  services 
of  the  First  City  Troop  during  the  Revolution.  It  is  in 
the  original  silver  case  with  the  likeness  of  Washington 
set  in  gold  as  presented  by  Captain  Dunlap  of  the  troop 
to  his  friend.  Captain  Morris. 

The  aged  Jesse  Wain,  of  Frankford,  visited  the  house 
during  the  childhood  of  Mr.  Elliston  P.  Morris,  the  pres- 
ent occupant,  and  entering  the  tea-room  in  the  south- 
western part  sat  lost  in  thought.  At  last  he  told  Mr. 
Morris  that,  while  at  the  Germantown  Academy,  he  had 
accompanied  his  classmate,  George  Washington  Parke 
Custis,  to  the  house  and  had,  upon  Washington's  invita- 
tion, stayed  to  tea  in  that  room. 

Mr.  Morris  has  interesting  memories  of  the  days  when 
a  horse  car  twice  a  day  on  the  Philadelphia,  Germantown 
&  Norristown  Railroad  afforded  the  only  public  means 
of  going  to  the  city,  except  the  four-horse  onmibus, 
which  started  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  for  the 
old  Rotterdam  Hotel,  on  Third  Street,  and  returned  in 
the  evening,  and  the  four-horse  Troy  coach,  which  carried 
the  mail  to  Bethlehem  and  passed  Market  Square,  Ger- 
mantown, about  six  in  the  morning. 

Those  were  the  days  when  everyone  knew  his  neighbour,  and 
tramps  were  unheard  of;  each  enjoyed  his  own  doorstep  and  roof- 
tree,  and  in  the  security  of  honest  living  the  open  door  of  the 
comfortable,  old-fashioned  homes  seemed  to  bid  a  welcome  to  the 
passing  stranger. 


WYCK 


GKRMANTOWN  ROAD  AND  WALNUT  LANE,  GERMANTOWN 

JANSEN—WISTAR— HAINES 


?  T  Walnut  Lane  and  Germantown 
Road,  set  in  a  spacious  shady  garden, 
is  a  long,  white  house  of  venerable 
aspect,  its  ivy-grown  gable  end  to 
the  street.  This  ancient  building  is 
\Vyck  and  the  original  portion  of  the 
^  house  is  one  of  the  oldest,  if  not  the 
oldest  building  in  Germantown. 

The  first  dwelling  was  built  about  1690  or  even  be- 
fore that  date,  while  another  house  was  built  close  by  at 
a  later  period  and  the  two  were  joined  together,  a  wide 
paved  passage  or  waggon  way  running  beneath  the  con- 
necting portion.  This  passage  was  afterwards  closed  in 
and  now  forms  a  "-reat  hallwav.  An  Indian  trail  is  said 
to  have  preceded  this  waggon  road.  The  two  houses  thus 
linked  together  have  made  a  building  of  unusual  length. 
Trellises  cover  the  whole  front  of  the  house  and  the 
vines  with  their  masses  of  dark  foliage  stand  out  in  sharp 
contrast  to  the  gleaming  white  of  the  walls.  Double 
doors,  almost  as  wide  as  barn  doors,  with  a  long  transom 
of  little  square  lights,  open  into  the  great  hallway. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Wyck  has  never  been  sold 
but  has  passed  from  one  owner  to  another  by  inheritance 
and  frequently  in  the  female  line.  The  daughter  of 
Hans  Millan,  who  built  the  house,  married  Dirck  Jansen. 
Catharine  Jansen,  who  was  born  in  1703  and  inherited 
the  house,  married  Caspar  Wistar;  Margaret  Wistar,  the 
daughter  of  Caspar  and  Catharine  Jansen  Wistar,  mar- 

2S6 


WYCK 

ried  Reuben  Haines  and  took  the  house  with  her  into 
the  Haines  family  where  it  has  remained  ever  since. 

Caspar  Wistar  established  the  first  glassworks  in  the 
country  at  Salem  in  New  Jersey  in  1740.  One  of  the 
famous  Wistar  goblets,  a  product  of  this  factory,  is  still 
carefully  preserved  at  Wyck.  It  is  of  greenish  glass 
and  bears  the  inscription  blown  in,  "  JSIargaretta  Visterin, 
1751." 

The  spelling  suggests  a  remark  on  the  orthography  of 
the  two  branches  of  the  AVistar  or  Wister  family  and  the 
reason  of  the  pique  existing  between  them.  The  family 
in  Germany  spelled  its  name  with  an  "  e."  When 
Caspar  Wistar  came  to  this  country,  he  chose  to  write  his 
name  with  an  "  a,"  thus  adopting  what  had  really  been 
a  mistake  of  the  clerk  of  the  Court,  and  all  his  descend- 
ants have  followed  his  example.  When  his  younger 
brother  John  arrived  ten  years  later,  in  1727,  he  re- 
tained the  "  e  "  and  his  descendants  have  done  the  like. 
At  the  time  of  the  Hicksite  split  among  the  Friends, 
the  majority  of  the  "  er's  "  chose  to  follow  Elias  Hicks; 
their  "  ar "  cousins  remained  orthodox.  Some  of  the 
Friends,  with  singular  lack  of  tact,  insisted  on  sending 
a  deputation  of  "  ar's  "  to  wait  upon  their  "  er  "  cousins 
and  convince  them  of  the  error  of  their  ways.  The  re- 
sult was  not  happy.     This  was  the  origin  of  the  trouble. 

After  the  battle  of  Germantown  the  halls  of  Wyck 
were  used  for  a  hospital  and  operating  rooms,  and  the 
blood  stains  may  still  be  seen  on  the  floors.  It  was  at 
Wyck,  also,  then  the  residence  of  Reuben  Haines,  that  a 
reception  was  tendered  Lafayette  on  the  occasion  of  his 

237 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


visit  to  Germantown  on  July  20,  1825.  After  being 
suniptuoiisly  entertained  at  breakfast  at  Cliveden  and 
driving  tbence  to  Barren  Hill,  the  scene  of  one  of  his  bril- 
liant tactical  exploits  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  the 
^larquis  de  Lafayette  was  brought  to  Wyck  and  there  re- 
ceived the  respects  of  the  people  who  were  presented  by 
Charles  J.  Wister.  The  reception  was  held  in  the  passage- 
way through  the  centre  of  the  house,  the  guests  filing  in 
through  one  door  and  out  through  the  other  into  the  garden 
at  the  rear.  Wyck  has  been  preserved  more  nearly  in  its 
original  state  than  many  other  old  houses.  There  is 
neither  gas  nor  electric  light  in  it  and  altogether  it  is  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  in  its  pristine  condition.  There 
is  a  Spanish  chestnut  tree  in  the  garden,  grown  from  a 
seedling  of  a  tree  that  Washington  planted  for  Judge 
Peters  at  Belmont. 


>  T       •>       y     t         > 


JOHNSON-    HOUSE,    O^Uj    GEIiMANTOWX    HOAl) 
Built  by  John  Johnson,  1700 


wye  K,    (iKHMANTOWN    ){<)AI)    AM)    WALNir     l.ANK 
Huill  liy  II;iM.*  Millaii,  <•.   l(i!)l) 


JOHNSON  HOUSE 

6305  GERMANTOWN  ROAD.  GERMANTOWN 
JOHNSON 


HE  home  of  this  well-known  Ger- 
mantown  family  is  situated  at  the 
corner  of  Washington  Lane  and 
Main  Street.  It  is  quite  typical  of 
the  first  houses  that  lined  the  street 
of  the  old  town  for  nearly  two 
miles,  their  grounds  extending  back 
of  their  houses  to  the  Wissahickon  Creek  on  the  west  and 
even  beyond  what  is  now  Chew  Street  on  the  east.  They 
were  solidly  built  of  the  dark  native  stone,  dressed  on  the 
front.  Many  of  them  had  the  small  pent  roof  between  the 
first  and  second  storeys  to  afford  protection  from  the 
weather.  Often  there  was  a  hood  over  the  door,  the  door 
generally  being  divided  in  the  middle  to  keep  out  stray  ani- 
mals when  the  upper  portion  was  open  to  admit  air  and 
light.  The  Main  Street  or  Germantown  Road  was  once 
called  the  worst  road  in  the  United  States.  It  followed 
what  had  been  a  crooked  Indian  trail  and  had  rows  of  trees 
on  either  side.  Up  and  down  this  street  marched  the  armies 
of  Great  Britain  and  of  the  new  Republic  and  here  was 
the  centre  of  conflict  on  the  morning  of  October  4,  1777- 
It  was  the  route  by  which  the  British  entered  Philadelpliia 
in  that  year,  when  the  throngs  of  citizens,  clad  in  their 
best  array,  lined  the  sidewalks  to  see  the  grenadiers  march 
by,  steadfast  and  composed,  splendidly  equipped,  and  with 
their  music  sounding  "  God  Save  the  King."  Here, 
too,  they  listened  to  the  wild  strains  of  the  bearded  Hes- 

239 


(OLOMAL    HOMES   OF   rillLADELnilA 


sians,  t(.'rri})Ie  in  brass-fronted  helmets,  and  suggesting 
])liin(lcr  and  pillage  to  the  peaceful  villagers. 

Dirck  Jansen  was  one  of  the  original  settlers  of  Ger- 
nianto\\'n  and  came  from  northern  Holland.  He  began 
the  house  in  1765  and  finished  it  in  1768,  which  is  the  date 
on  the  stone  in  the  peak.  It  was  built  for  his  son,  John 
Johnson,  who  brought  his  bride,  Rachel  Livezey,  directly 
there  from  fleeting  where  they  were  married.  John  was 
the  occupant  of  the  house  at  the  time  of  the  battle  and, 
alarmed  by  the  noise,  went  to  the  door  to  look  out. 

An  officer,  riding  by,  warned  him  to  seek  a  place  of 
safety.  It  being  early  in  the  morning,  the  maids  had 
just  brought  the  milk  from  the  barn,  but  upon  the  alarm 
hastily  left  it  and  all  sought  refuge  in  the  cellar.  After 
the  battle  the  British  soldiers  ransacked  the  house,  drank 
the  milk,  and  ate  everything  eatable.  There  are  bullet- 
holes,  still  plainly  visible,  through  three  doors,  and  a  piece 
shot  out  of  the  northwest  wall  by  a  cannon  ball.  The 
family  had  a  pet  squirrel  in  a  cage  in  a  window  of  the 
dining-room  and,  in  the  hurry  to  get  into  the  cellar  be- 
fore the  battle,  left  the  squirrel  to  its  fate.  It  was  so 
scared  that  it  gnawed  a  large  hole  in  the  windowsill,  which 
is  still  to  be  seen.  In  the  backyard  were  a  wall  and  a 
fence  about  a  hundred  feet  apart.  The  British  were  be- 
hind the  wall  and  the  Americans  behind  the  fence.  In 
the  spirited  engagement  which  took  place,  the  Americans 
got  the  worst  of  it  as  the  bullets  easily  penetrated  the 
fence.  Tliis  fence,  riddled  with  bullets,  stood  until  1906, 
when  it  was  removed  to  the  Museum  of  the  Site  and 
Kelic  Society  at  Vernon.  Relics  of  buried  soldiers,  balls, 
and  weapons  have  been  found  at  a  late  day. 

2W 


JOHNSON  HOUSE 


The  house  was  one  of  the  largest  and  most  substantial 
in  early  Germanto\vn,  and  on  this  account  gave  some  con- 
cern to  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  of  which  body 
the  Johnsons  were  members. 

Anthony  Johnson  relates  that  he  has  seen  two  hun- 
dred Indians  in  the  woods  which  were  then  back  of  the 
house  toward  Wissahickon  Creek.  They  would  remain  for 
a  week  at  a  time  to  make  and  sell  baskets,  ladles,  fiddles,  etc. 

He  used  to  watch  their  feats  of  agility,  going  over 
fences  in  a  horizontal  position  and  alighting  on  their  nim- 
ble feet,  also  shooting  at  marks  and  at  beavers  in  the  dam. 

John  Johnson  died  in  1805,  and  his  son  Samuel  in- 
herited the  place.  His  wife,  who  was  Jennit  Rowland, 
received  it  from  him  when  he  died  in  1847,  and  lived  there 
until  her  death  in  1876.  The  two  daughters,  Elizabeth 
R.  and  Sarah  P.,  occupied  it  until  the  former  passed 
away  in  1905.  Another  member  of  the  family  was  Israel 
Johnson,  a  Friend  of  dignified  mien,  plain  speech,  and 
dress.  He  prided  himself  upon  the  plainness  and  use- 
fulness of  his  apparel,  and  upon  being  quizzed  about  the 
buttons  on  the  back  of  his  coat  immediately  took  his  pen- 
knife and  cut  them  off. 

INIrs.  Josiah  Reeve,  a  great-great-granddaughter  of 
the  builder,  occupied  the  residence  until  recently. 

During  the  Civil  War,  the  house  was  a  station  of  the 
Underground  Railway,  which  conveyed  fugitive  slaves 
from  the  South  to  Canada,  and  Mrs.  Reeve  tells  how, 
when  a  small  girl,  she  wondered  why  so  many  families  of 
coloured  people  lived  in  the  attic,  and  why  they  never 
stayed  more  than  a  day,  when  a  new  lot  would  appear. 

It  is  now  owned  by  Samuel  Johnson,  of  New  Jersey. 

16 


CLIVEDEN 

GERMANTOWN  ROAD  AND  JOHNSON  STREET,  GERMANTOWN 

CHEW 


•LIVEDEN,  the  seat  of  the  Chew 
family,  is  located  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Main  Street  of  Germantown,  be- 
tween Johnson  Street  and  Cliveden 
Avenue,  the  grounds  surrounding  the 
house  reaching  as  far  east  as  ^Morton 
Street.  It  is  two  and  a  half  storeys 
high  and  built  of  solid  and  heavy  masonry.  The  front  is 
of  dressed  Germantown  stone  and  the  beautiful  doorway 
is  reached  by  six  stone  steps.  Back  of  the  house  are  two 
wings  used  for  servants'  quarters,  kitchen,  and  laundry; 
one  wing  is  semi-detached  and  the  other  entirely  so.  Along 
the  front  of  the  lawn  is  a  low  terrace  wall  and  leading  up 
to  the  house  are  a  number  of  fine  old  trees.  The  doorway 
opens  into  a  large  hall  with  small  rooms  upon  either  side 
which  were  used  for  offices.  Through  colunms  in  the  rear 
is  seen  the  stairway  leading  to  a  landing  and  window,  an 
interior  of  singular  beautv. 

The  Chews  were  longer  settled  in  America  than  any 
other  family  represented  in  our  Provincial  Council. 
About  1G21  John  Chew  came  to  Virginia  in  the  ship 
Chariiie,  with  three  servants,  and  was  followed  by  his 
wife  Sarah  in  the  S ea flour e. 

He  settled  at  James  Citie,  and  was  there  a  member 
of  the  Assembly.  His  son,  Samuel  Chew,  removed  to 
Maryland,  and  married  Anne,  daughter  of  William 
Ayres.  He  was  judge  of  the  High  Provincial  Court 
and  Court  of  Chancery  of  JNIaryland  and  a  member  of 

242 


■>     >   >    J>    >      J  > 

5   5         3         J       )  1 


J  1  >J3J,3^>J.J 


'        '      ,       ?      ,> 


>   ,  1        1  5      9' 


>  \    ■>     9         3  3 


»  >  »31»)>  '31 


It     i-i 

p    o 

|.§ 
i  o 

2.  g 

Z.  > 

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=^° 

i       "" 

a 
a 

o 

a 


CLIVEDEN 


the  Upper  House  of  the  Provincial  Legislature.  A  son, 
Samuel,  was  born  in  Maryland,  October  30,  1693,  and 
resided  upon  an  estate  called  Maidstone  near  Annapolis. 
He  was  a  physician,  a  convert  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
Chief -Justice  of  the  Three  Lower  Counties  in  IT-il,  and 
lived  during  the  later  years  of  his  life  at  Dover,  Dela- 
ware, where  he  died  in  1742. 

His  mother  had  brought  the  whole  family  over  to  her 
peaceful  faith,  and  when  the  militia  law  passed  the  As- 
sembly of  Pennsylvania,  the  Quaker  members  appealed 
to  the  court  over  which  Samuel  Chew  presided  as  Chief- 
Justice.  L'pon  his  decision  that  "  self-defense  was  not 
only  lawful,  but  obligatory  upon  God's  citizens,"  they 
proceeded  to  declare  their  lack  of  "  unity  with  him."  In 
his  published  commentary  upon  his  disownment  he  de- 
clares the  "  Bulls  of  Excommunication "  of  his  late 
brethren  to  be  "  as  full-fraught  with  fire  and  brimstone 
and  other  Church  artillery,  as  even  those  of  the  Pope  of 
Rome."  In  a  charge  to  the  grand  jury,  delivered  shortly 
after  the  publication  of  this  philippic,  he  says  that  in  his 
public  acts  he  was  "  accountable  to  His  Majesty  alone, 
and  subject  to  no  other  control  than  the  laws  of  the  land. 
I  am  mistaken,  it  seems,  and  am  accountable  for  what  I 
shall  transact  in  the  King's  Courts  to  a  paltry  ecclesiasti- 
cal jurisdiction  that  calls  itself  a  '  JMonthly  Meeting.' 
'  Tell  it  not  in  Gath,  publish  it  not  in  Askelon  '  ! "  All 
of  which  shows,  of  course,  that  he  was  never  really  a  con- 
vinced Friend. 

He  married  jNIary,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Anne 
Galloway.  Their  son,  Benjamin  Chew,  was  born  in  JNIaid- 
stone  on  the  West  River,  in  1722.     He  was  brought  up 

243 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

a  Quaker  and  studied  law  with  Andrew  Hamilton  and 
at  the  iNIiddle  Temple  in  London,  which  he  entered,  at 
the  age  of  nineteen,  the  same  year  as  Sir  William  Black- 
stone.  He  removed  to  Philadelphia  in  1754,  was  attor- 
ney-general from  1755  to  1769,  recorder  of  the  city  1755 
to  1774-,  Provincial  Councillor  1755,  Register-General  of 
the  I'rovince  1765,  member  of  the  commission  to  settle 
the  boundary  between  JNIaryland  and  Pennsylvania  1761, 
and  in  1774  succeeded  William  Allen  as  Chief -Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania.  After  the  Revo- 
lution he  was  judge  and  President  of  the  High  Coiu-t  of 
Errours  and  Appeals  until  it  was  abolished  in  1808.  His 
first  residence  was  at  Front  and  Dock  Streets  and  this 
remained  his  town  house  until  1771  when  he  purchased 
110  South  Third  Street,  built  by  Charles  Willing  for  his 
son-in-law,  Colonel  William  Byrd,  of  Westover,  Virginia. 
Judge  Chew  built  Cliveden  in  1761,  and  used  it  as  his 
countryseat.  He  was  noted  for  the  courtesies  he  paid  to 
the  members  of  the  first  Continental  Congress,  entertain- 
ing Washington,  Adams,  and  others  in  a  lavish  style. 
John  Adams  records  in  his  diary  his  admiration  for  the 
house  and  furniture  on  Third  Street,  and  says  of  the 
entertainment: 

22  Thursday.  Dined  with  Mr.  Chew,  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Province,  with  all  the  gentleman  from  Virginia,  Dr.  Sliippen,  Mr. 
Til^hnian,  and  many  others.  We  were  shown  into  a  grand  entry 
and  staircase  and  into  an  elegant  and  magnificent  chamber  until 
dinner.  About  4  O'clock  we  were  called  down  to  dinner.  The 
furniture  was  all  rich.  Turtle  and  every  other  thing,  flummery, 
jellies,  sweetmeats,  of  20  sorts,  trifles,  whipped  sillabubs,  floating 

244 


CLIVEDEN 


islands,  fools,  etc.,  &  then  a  dessert  of  fruits,  raisens,  almonds, 
pears,  peaches,  wines  most  excellent  &  admirable.  I  drank 
Madeira  at  a  great  rate  &  found  no  inconvenience  in  it. 

Mr.  Chew's  position  was  like  many  others  who  sympa- 
thised with  their  fellow-countrymen  but  who  stopped 
short  of  independence.  He  signed  the  Non-importation 
Agreement  in  1765,  and  in  his  charge  to  the  grand  jury 
of  the  April  term,  1776,  defined  high  treason.  Dr.  John 
Cox  arose  and  asked  what  was  to  become  of  those  who 
were  opposing  the  arbitrary  power  of  the  British  jNIinis- 
try.     Chief  Justice  Chew  answered: 

I  have  stated  that  an  opposition  by  force  of  arms  to  the  law- 
ful authority  of  the  King  or  his  Ministry  is  high  treason,  but  in 
the  moment  when  the  King,  or  his  Ministers,  shall  exceed  the  au- 
thority vested  in  them  by  the  Constitution  submission  to  their 
mandate  becomes  treason. 

Mr.  Cox  and  the  jury  immediately  made  a  low  bow 
to  the  court  and  it  was  the  last  one  held  under  the  Crown. 
In  August,  1777,  Judge  Chew  and  John  Penn,  late  Pro- 
prietary, were  arrested  by  the  City  Troop  and  upon  re- 
fusing parole  were  escorted  by  an  officer  and  six  men  to 
the  Union  Iron  Works  near  Burlington,  New  Jersey, 
where  they  remained  until  their  release  in  1778. 

The  Cliveden  estate  was  originally  a  part  of  the  John- 
son propert}^  but  was  bought  from  Edward  Pennington 
and  added  to  in  1765  and  1776  by  land  from  Richard 
Johnson  and  Thomas  Nedrow.  It  is  known  in  the  annals 
of  American  history  as  the  scene  of  the  chief  incident 
of  the  Battle  of  GermantoAvn.  It  is  not  the  purpose  to 
describe  in  detail  anj^  more  of  this  famous  event  than  is 

245 


(OI.OMAL    IKLMKS   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

connected  with  Cliveden.  The  American  centre  was  ad- 
vancing down  the  JNIain  Street  driving  all  before  them. 
One  lumdrcd  and  twenty  men  of  the  fortieth  regiment  of 
the  Pritish  iVrmy,  under  Colonel  JNIusgrave,  entered  the 
house  and  disposed  themselves  so  as  to  make  a  vigorous 
defence.  The  shutters  on  the  first  floor  were  closed  and 
most  of  the  men  went  to  the  second  floor.  Captain 
Hains,  commanding  on  the  first  floor,  ordered  tables  and 
chairs  piled  against  the  doors.  Fortunately  the  Chew 
family  was  aw^ay  from  home  at  the  time  and  the  house 
was  in  charge  of  the  gardener  and  other  servants.  A 
pretty  dairy  maid,  whom  the  gardener  much  admired, 
was  rather  pleased  with  the  tender  familiarities  of  the  red- 
coats, much  to  the  annoyance  of  her  admirer.  When  the 
firing  became  heavy  he  urged  her  to  go  to  the  cellar,  but 
without  avail  until  a  cannon  ball  went  through  the  house 
making  a  great  commotion.  He  then  gave  her  a  push 
which  sent  her  headlong  to  the  bottom  of  the  stairs  when 
he  turned  the  lock  and  left  her  in  the  cellar.  The  stub- 
born resistance  of  the  British  caused  a  pause  in  the 
American  advance  and  a  conference  of  officers  was  held 
in  the  dark,  thick  fog.  In  front  of  the  Billmeyer  House, 
Washington  and  his  officers  debated  the  matter  and  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Smith,  of  Virginia,  volunteered  to  carry 
a  Hag  to  Colonel  Musgrave  in  the  house  and  summon 
his  surrender.  He  accordingly  advanced  with  a  flag  of 
truce  and  a  drum,  reaching  the  gate  at  the  road,  when  a 
shot  from  a  w^indow  gave  him  a  wound  from  which  he  died. 
General  JNlax well's  brigade  and  four  pieces  of  ord- 
nance were  ])lanted  across  the  street  where  Upsala  now 
stands,   the   home   of   INIiss    Sallie   Johnson.     Maxw^ell's 

216 


>        J    '\ »     »      i     J 

s  >      3      i    -y'       -i      -i 


5  5  >i>l,>  10 


5  '         I  5      J 

3  ,  *       1  t      i 


>  J  5>J>5»  'j'l',     j'>,> 


>,'  ;■>  i   ' 


DOORWAY    OF   CLIVEDEN' 
It  was  about  thii  doorwiiy  that  llw  l?a(lli>  of  (icriiiaiilown  raged  most  fiercely 


CLIVEDEN 


men  repeatedly  charged  across  the  lawn  without  success 
and  the  six  pounders  had  little  effect  except  to  chip  the 
statuary  and  leave  dents  in  the  wall  which  are  plainly 
visible  to-day.  Chevalier  Mauduit-Duplessis,  in  charge  of 
the  artillery,  and  Colonel  Laurens  tried  to  fire  the  house. 
Duplessis  forced  a  window  on  the  ground  floor  and 
mounted,  but  was  met  by  an  officer  who  presented  a  pistol 
and  demanded  his  surrender.  Another  entering  hastily 
into  the  chamber  fired  a  musket  shot  which  killed  the  officer 
and  so  saved  the  life  of  Duplessis.  Major  White,  of 
Sullivan's  staff,  made  a  similar  attempt  to  fire  the  north 
side,  but  as  he  was  putting  a  torch  to  it  he  received  a 
bayonet  in  the  mouth  "  which  put  an  end  to  his  existence." 
The  checking  of  the  centre's  advance  at  Cliveden  pre- 
vented the  carrying  out  of  Washington's  comprehensive 
plan  of  battle  and  so  had  most  to  do  with  the  loss  of  the 
day  to  the  American  arms.  It  was  a  sorry-looking  house 
that  remained.  The  walls  and  ceilings  were  blackened 
with  smoke  and  the  floor  stained  with  blood.  In  the  front 
hall  many  holes  are  to  be  seen  filled  with  plaster,  plainly 
showing  because  not  quite  of  the  same  colour  as  the 
original.  Not  alone  in  the  hall  but  everywhere  the 
plaster  was  broken  by  cannon  and  rifle  balls,  the 
woodwork  was  splintered  and  the  stonework  shattered, 
the  marble  statues  were  knocked  over,  broken  and  dis- 
figiu'ed.  One  six-pound  cannon  ball  had  entered  the 
front  window,  passed  through  four  partitions  and  had 
gone  out  at  the  back.  Five  carpenters,  as  well  as  other 
mechanics,  were  employed  all  the  next  winter  putting 
Cliveden  in  order.  The  third  storey  suffered  more  than 
the  second,  and  the  second  more  than  the  first.     The  ceil- 

217 


COKOMAL    IK)^ri:S   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


ing  of  the  second  storey  was,  and  is,  literally  peppered 
with  the  hiillets  from  the  muskets  of  those  who  crept  up 
as  close  as  they  could  and  fired  into  the  second  storey 
\\'indows.  Around  the  base  of  one  of  the  columns  in  the 
hall  are  to  he  seen  the  marks  made  by  the  muzzles  of  the 
muskets  which  were  stacked  there  with  the  locks  up  so 
as  to  keep  the  powder  dry.  The  barrels  were  wet  from 
the  thick  fog  of  the  morning  and  the  oxide  of  iron  made 
a  permanent  mark  on  the  floor. 

Benjamin  Chew  married  Mary,  daughter  of  John 
and  Mary  Thomas  Galloway,  and  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  James  and  INlary  Turner  Oswald.  The  children  of 
the  first  marriage  were  Mary,  Anna  !Maria,  Eliza- 
beth, Sarah,  and  Henrietta.  Mary,  Elizabeth,  and  Sarah 
married  Alexander  Wilcocks,  Edward  Tilghman,  and  John 
Galloway  respectively.  Those  born  of  the  second  mar- 
riage were  Benjamin,  Peggy  Oswald,  Joseph,  Julianna, 
Henrietta,  Sophia,  ]SIaria,  Harriett,  and  Catharine. 
Benjamin,  Peggy  Oswald,  Julianna,  Sophia,  and  Harriett 
married  Katharine  Banning,  John  Eager  Howard,  Philip 
Nicklin,  Henry  Phillips,  and  Charles  Carroll  respectively. 

With  such  a  household  of  attractive  and  accomplished 
children  we  can  imagine  that  times  were  brisk  at  Clive- 
den. The  daughters  were  among  the  most  fascinating 
of  a  brilliant  set  and  Joseph  Shippen  well  depicts  Mary 
and  Anna  Maria  in  his  lines: 

With  eitlier  Chew  such  beauties  dwell, 
Such  channs  by  each  are  shared, 
No  critic's  judging  eye  can  tell 
Wliich  merits  most  regard. 

248 


CLIVEDEN 


'Tis  far  beyond  the  painter's  skill 
To  set  their  charms  to  view, 
As  far  beyond  the  poet's  quill 
To  give  the  praise  that's  due. 

And  this  from  an  unknown  poet  on   picking  up  a 
knot  of  ribbon  at  the  Assembly : 

If  I   mistake   not — 'tis   the   accomplished   Chew, 

To  whom  this  ornamental  bow  is  due; 

Its  taste  like  hers,  so  neat,  so  void  of  art — 

Just  as  her  mind  and  gentle  as  her  heart. 

I  haste  to  send  it — to  resume  its  place, 

For  beaux  should  sorrow  o'er  a  bow's  disgrace. 

Peggy  Chew  is  perhaps  the  best  known  of  these 
lovely  sisters  on  account  of  the  romance  said  to  have  ex- 
isted between  her  and  Major  Andre,  who  fought  in  her 
honour  as  one  of  the  Knights  of  the  Blended  Rose  in  the 
"  Mischianza  "  with  the  motto  "  No  Rival."  He  wrote  an 
account  of  the  affair  for  her  afterward  and  the  manu- 
script is  tenderly  preserved  by  her  descendants  together 
with  his  water-colour  sketch  of  himself  in  the  costume  he 
wore  at  the  fete  and  several  poems  addressed  by  him  to 
his  fair  friend  during  his  sojourn  at  Cliveden.  Chanc- 
ing to  see  her  walking  in  the  orchard,  "  under  green  apple 
boughs,"  he  wrote: 

The  Hebrews  write  and  those  who  can 
Believe  an  apple  tempted  man 
To  touch  the  tree  exempt ; 
Tho'  tasted  at  a  vast  expense, 

249 


( OLOMAL   IIO.MKS   OF    IMIILADELPIIIA 

'Twas  too  delicious  to  the  sense, 

Not   mortally   to   tempt. 

But  had  the  tree  of  knowledge  bloomed, 

Its  branches  by  much  fruit  perfumed. 

As  here  enchants  my  view— 
What  mortal  Adam's  taste  could  blame, 
Who  would  not  die  to  eat  the  same, 
When  gods  might  wish  a  Chew? 

He  wrote  to  her  at  parting: 

If  at  the  close  of  war  and  strife. 
My  destiny  once  more 
Should  in  the  various  paths  of  life. 
Conduct   me   to   this   shore; 

Should  British  banners  guard  the  land, 
And  faction  be  restrained; 
And  Cliveden's  peaceful  mansion  stand 
No   more   with   blood  bestained ; 

Say,  wilt  thou  then  receive  again 
And  welcome  to  thy  sight. 
The  youth  who  bids  with  stifled  pain 
His  sad  farewell  to-night? 

Peggy  Chew  wrote  most  entertaining  letters  to  her 
friend,  Rebeeea  Franks,  the  beautiful  Loyalist  who  was 
undergoing  exile  in  New  York  City,  but  in  spite  of  her 
I^oyalist  leanings,  in  which  her  whole  family  shared,  she 
married  Colonel  John  Eager  Howard,  of  Maryland,  a 
brave  soldier  of  the  Continental  Army. 

She  loved  to  dwell,  however, .  upon  the  charms  of 
.Major  Andre,  which  naturally  irritated  her  patriotic  hus- 

250 


CLIVEDEN 


band,  so  that  one  day  when  she  remarked  to  some  dis- 
tinguished foreigners  that  "  Major  Andre  was  a  most 
witty  and  cultivated  gentleman,"  he  exclaimed,  "  He 
was  a  damn  spy,  sir;  nothing  but  a  damn  spy!  " 

We  find  in  Washington's  diary  under  date  of  May 
23,  1787,  "  Dined  at  JNlr.  Chew's  with  the  wedding  guests. 
I  drank  Tea  there  in  a  large  circle  of  Ladies."  This 
was  at  the  Chew's  town  house  on  Third  Street  and  Wash- 
ington was  attending  the  Constitutional  Convention 
nearby  in  the  State  House.  He  was  an  old  friend  of  Mr. 
Chew's,  however,  having  been  entertained  by  him  when 
the  Continental  Congress  first  met,  and  having  rented  the 
Third  Street  house  from  JNIay  19,  1781,  to  JNIarch  22, 
1782.  This  house  was  immediately  north  of  the  Powel 
House  and  was  taken  down  in  1830.  It  had  spacious 
gardens,  the  only  ones,  remarks  Ann  Warder  in  her  diary, 
besides  Mr.  Norris's  in  the  city.  The  intimacy  between 
the  two  families  was  continued,  and  Washington,  in  de- 
scribing a  house-party  at  iNIount  Vernon,  February  25, 
1799,  names  Miss  Chew  as  one  of  his  guests. 

Benjamin  Chew,  Jr.,  was  of  the  Class  of  1775  of  the 
Universitv  of  Pennsylvania,  and  studied  law  at  the 
Middle  Temple  in  London.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  of  Philadelphia  in  1786  and  died  at  Cliveden  April 
31,  1844,  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-six.  His  wife  died  in 
March,  1855,  and  there  were  thirteen  children. 

Mr.  Chew  is  described  as  a  man  of  polished  manners, 
S}Tnmetry  of  form  and  features,  and  of  great  strength. 
He  was  noted  for  his  hospitality  and  benevolence  and  was 
the  last  in  Germantown  to  wear  short  clothes,  with  low 
shoes  and  buckles,  and  his  hair  done  up  in  a  queue.     He 

251 


( OLOXIAL    HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


was  a  trustee  of  tlie  Gcrniantown  Academy  for  forty-four 
years  and  its  president  for  thirty-eight,  the  longest  term 
of  service  in  the  Iiistorv  of  the  school. 

C'li\  edcn  was  out  of  the  Chew  family  for  a  while  when 
Justice  Chew  sold  it  September  3,  1779,  to  Blair  ^Ic- 
Clenalian  for  Jj^OOOO.  He  bought  it  back,  however,  on 
April  15,  1787,  for  $25,000.  Blair  ^IcClenahan  was  one 
of  the  original  members  of  the  Philadelphia  City  Troop 
and  a  subscriber  and  director  of  the  Bank  of  Pennsyl- 
vania in  1780.  He  made  a  great  deal  of  money  fitting 
out  privateers.  He  was  the  head  of  the  Gallic  party, 
president  of  the  Democratic  Society,  and  sympathised 
with  France  in  1794.  When  asked  what  he  would  do 
^\^th  Jay's  Treaty,  he  replied,  "Kick  it  to  Hell,  Sir!" 
]\IcClenahan  was  a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania  Assem- 
bly, of  Congress  in  1797,  and  a  Commissioner  of  L^nited 
States  Loans.  Although  having  sold  Cliveden  to  its 
original  owner  in  the  spring  of  1787,  he  evidently  spent 
tlie  summer  there,  for  Washington  dined  with  him  there 
August  19  of  that  year,  having,  while  President  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention,  ridden  up  tlirough  German- 
town  with  Samuel  Powel  to  the  old  encampment  at 
Whitemarsh. 

On  July  20,  1825,  Cliveden  was  the  scene  of  a 
"  Breakfast  "  to  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  the  sole  sur- 
vivor of  AVashington's  generals,  welcomed  by  the  nation 
throughout  its  twenty-four  States  upon  his  triumphant 
tour  of  farewell.  Escorted  by  a  company  of  the  Ger- 
mantown  cavalry,  tlie  Germantown  Blues,  his  brethren 
of  the  Freemasons  and  numerous  benevolent  societies,  the 
general,  riding  in  an  open  barouche  drawii  by  four  grey 

2-)2 


'  5      J  J      J      0  > 

.    1  >  )       »  ,  , 


1  5^1 


'  '  J35J>) 


>  1 


HALLMAY    AT    CLIVKDEN 


CLIVEDEN,    GERMANTOWX 

Hiiilt  liv  Clii.'f  .Iiislicf  ("how.  ITCl 


CLIVEDEN 


horses,  was  driven  up  the  JNIain  Street  to  the  Chew 
house,  where  Mr.  Benjamin  Chew,  Jr.,  greeted  him  and 
presented  him  to  the  various  members  of  his  escort,  as 
well  as  to  a  vast  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town, 
both  "  males  and  females."  The  scene  is  pictured  in  a 
painting  by  E.  L.  Henry  and  is  best  described  by  a  con- 
temporary letter  from  Miss  Ann  Johnson,  who  lived  at 
Upsala  across  the  way.  It  is  dated  July  24,  1825,  ad- 
di'essed  to  her  mother  at  Saratoga  Springs,  and  is  now  at 
the  JMuseum  of  the  Site  and  Relic  Society  in  Vernon 
Park: 

Last  4th.  day  morn  I  had  the  honour  of  breakfasting  with 
LaFayette  at  Mr.  Chews.  I  wish  you  had  been  here — the  house 
both  up  and  down  stairs  was  crowded  with  men,  women  and  sol- 
diers— and  around  the  house.  Mrs.  and  two  of  the  Mifs 
Morris's  and  myself  were  the  only  invited  ladies  that  sat  down  to 
Breakfast — about  16  sat  down  at  first,  and  when  they  had  fin- 
ished others  took  their  place,  and  so  on  till  I  believe  nearly 
all  the  soldiers  had  breakfast — those  that  did  not  come  in  had 
something  in  the  kitchen.  I  heard  that  they  eat  every  thing 
they  had  till  at  last  the  cook  had  to  lock  the  doors. 

I  was  introduced  to  LaFayette  twice  and  shook  hands  with 
him  three  times.  Ann  Chew  regretted  M  was  not  there  to  enjoy 
the  scene — it  was  quite  delightful  to  see  anything  so  animated 
in  G — pp.  There  was  so  much  noise  that  I  could  not  hear  a 
word  the  General  said,  every  person  seemed  so  anxious  to  sec 
him  eat,  that  a  centinal  had  to  keep  guard  at  the  door  with  a 
drawn  sword — it  was  very  fine  indeed.  When  he  departed  the 
shouts  of  the  multitude  and  the  roaring  of  the  cannon  was  al- 
most deafening.  A.  L.  Logan  said  I  could  give  you  a  very  fine 
description  of  it — but  I  told  him  I  would  have  to  leave  it  to  your 
imagination,  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  describe  everything. 

253 


(OLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

Miss  ^Vnii  Sophia  Pemi  Chew  was  the  hostess  upon 
this  occasion  and  was  the  last  survivor  of  the  children  of 
licnjaniiii  Chew,  Jr.  Three  of  liis  cliildren  married: 
Eenjaniin  married  Elizabeth  Margaret  Tilghman,  Eliza- 
hetli  ^largaretta,  James  jNl.  JNIason  of  oSIason  &  Slidell 
fame  and  Henry  Banning,  Harriett  Ridgely  of  Mary- 
land and  Elizabeth  Ann  Ralston  of  Philadelphia.  Two 
sons  of  the  last  married :  Charles  Ridgely  married  Harriett 
Green  and  Samuel  JNIary  J.  Brown.  These  were  the 
only  two  descendants  of  the  Chief-Justice  bearing  the 
name.  JNIrs.  Samuel  Chew  now  occupies  Cliveden  in 
the  spring  and  autumn.  The  house  is  preserved  in  its 
original  condition  and  owing  to  the  absence  of  water,  gas, 
or  electricity  can  hardly  be  expected  to  keep  up  its  repu- 
tation for  hospitality  the  year  round.  A  large  part  of 
the  acreage,  known  as  Chew's  Woods,  has  been  presented 
to  the  city  as  a  public  park,  but  the  barn  in  the  rear  of 
the  house  still  retains  a  rural  appearance  and  is  con- 
nected ^Aith  the  house  by  an  underground  passage. 
AVithin  it  is  the  old  family  coach,  which  many  inhabitants 
still  remember  proceeding  up  the  Main  Street  with  Mr. 
Benjamin  Chew  in  his  sm^ll  clothes  within,  a  negro  driver 
on  the  front  seat,  and  a  footman  standing  in  the  rear  hold- 
ing on  to  the  straps. 


.      >   J  5         ,  ,   ,  , 


UPSALA 

GERMANTOWN  ROAD  AND  UPSAL  STREET,  GERMANTOWN 

JOHNSON 


N  the  west  side  of  Main  Street  in 
Germantown,  and  opposite  the  Chew 
House,  stands  one  of  the  finest  speci- 
mens of  Philadelphia  Colonial  archi- 
tecture. The  splendid  and  rare 
trees  and  the  luxurious  garden  with 
its  rows  of  box-bush  and  arbours 
are  features  that  leave  little  to  be  desired  in  home 
surroundings. 

The  property  is  near  the  corner  of  Upsal  Street  and 
is  a  part  of  the  tract  owned  by  John  Johnson  and  built 
upon  by  him  at  Washington  Lane.  It  originally  ex- 
tended from  the  Main  Street  to  the  township  line  now 
called  Wissaliickon  Avenue.  Upsala  was  begun  in  1798, 
as  the  date-stone  in  the  gable  tells  us,  and  was  three  years 
in  the  building.  Its  owner  was  John  Johnson,  Jr.,  the 
son  of  Joseph,  who  inherited  the  land  from  his  grand- 
father John.  He  married  Sarah  Wheeler  of  the  city 
and  there  were  nine  children  to  bless  them. 

On  the  site  of  the  house  were  planted  the  cannon 
that  assailed  the  Chew  house  at  the  Battle  of  German- 
town,  and  here  were  also  encamped  the  Fortieth  Regi- 
ment of  Foot,  enlisted  from  the  riffraff  of  London,  a  part 
of  which  occupied  and  defended  Cliveden. 

Upsala  is  built  of  stone,  faced  and  carefully  pointed 
on  the  front,  and  has  a  portico  over  the  door  which  is 
reached  by  four  marble  steps.  A  large  wide  hall  runs 
through  the  centre  of  the  house  with  an  archway  in  the 

255 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

middle  at  the  approach  to  the  stairway.  There  are  two 
rooms  on  each  side  and  the  kitchens  are  in  a  rear  wing. 
The  rooms  and  hallway  are  wainscotted  in  white  panels 
to  a  chair-rail  and  there  are  high  beautiful  mantels  m 
each  room.  All  have  fireplaces  with  iron  tirebacks  and 
dark  marble  facings. 

The  property  has  come  from  its  builder  to  his  son, 
Norton  Johnson,  and  from  him  to  the  only  descendants. 
Dr.  ^^"illiam  N.  Johnson  and  Miss  Sallie  W.  Johnson, 
the  latter  living  in  the  house. 


>     J  J  ',1   '     ) .  ,   ,   > 


1   '     J  J     J    1  1     >      1  '  J  '      J      ',     )       *  >      J    J 


DOORWAY    AT    I'l'SALA 


i'AlU.orit    AT    ri'SAI^V 


CARLTON 

INDIAN  QUEEN  LANE,  GERMANTOWN 
TURNER— ASHMEAD— HILL— LEE— CRAIG— SMITH 


>ARLTON  is  situated  on  the  west  side 
of  Indian  Queen  Lane  after  cross- 
ing Wissahickon  Avenue  on  the  out- 
skirts of  lower  Germantown.  It  lies 
upon  a  portion  of  a  tract  of  five 
thousand  acres  which  William  Perm 
deeded  to  John  and  Ann  Charlotte 
Lowther,  who  sold  it  in  1731  to  Joseph  Turner,  and  he  in 
turn  to  John  Ashmead.  It  next  came  into  the  possession 
of  Mr.  Henry  Hill,  during  whose  ownership  were  enacted 
the  most  interesting  events  in  its  history.  This  was  about 
1777,  and  it  then  consisted  of  a  large  tract  of  land  partly 
in  Roxborough  and  partly  in  Penn  Township,  situated 
upon  an  elevated  plateau  of  several  hundred  acres  east  of 
the  Schuylkill  River,  bounded  on  the  north  by  School 
House  Lane,  on  the  east  by  a  road  dividing  Germantown 
and  Roxborough  Townships  known  as  Township  Line 
Road,  and  sloping  sharply  on  the  west  to  the  river.  It  ex- 
tended southward  from  School  House  Lane  on  both  sides 
of  Indian  Queen  Lane,  termed  in  early  deeds  "  a  road  lead- 
ing from  Germantown  to  Schuylkill  Falls  alias  Robert's 
Ferry,"  the  house  and  farm  buildings  being  in  Roxbor- 
ough Township. 

Hemy  Hill,  son  of  Doctor  Richard  Hill,  was  born 
in  1732  on  his  father's  Maryland  plantation.  He  was 
educated  as  a  merchant  and  settled  in  Philadelphia,  en- 
gaging extensively  in  the  Madeira  wine  trade,  his  father 
havino-  removed   to  that  island   in   1730.     "  Hill's   ]Ma- 

17  257 


( OLOXTAL   HOMKS   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

(leira  "  was  widely  known  as  one  of  the  clioicest  brands  in 
the  lMiihi(leli)hia  market.  JNIr.  Hill  was  justice  of  the 
peace  in  1772,  member  of  the  Carpenters'  Hall  Confer- 
ence of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  1775,  and  of  the  Consti- 
tutional Convention  of  1776.  He  was  an  original  member 
of  the  First  City  Troop,  commanded  a  battalion  of  Asso- 
ciators  in  1776,  and  in  1779  subscribed  five  thousand 
pounds  to  the  Pennsylvania  Bank,  an  institution  organ- 
ised for  the  purchase  of  provisions  for  the  Continental 
Army.  He  was  one  of  the  original  subscribers  to  the 
Bank  of  North  America  and  a  director  from  1781  to  1792. 
From  1780  to  1784  he  was  a  member  of  the  Assembly,  and 
the  Executive  Council  from  1785  to  1788.  He  w^as  a 
trustee  of  the  Germantown  Academy  from  1784  until  his 
death  in  1798  and  was  President  of  the  Board.  His  to\vn 
house,  which  he  built,  was  at  the  corner  of  Fourth  and 
Union  Streets,  now  De  Lancey.  This  was  in  after  years 
the  residence  of  Doctor  Philip  Syng  Physick.  He  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  Reese  INIeredith,  whom  he  survived,  and 
died  of  yellow  fever  September  15,  1798,  leaving  no  issue. 

It  was  about  INIr.  Hill's  country  house,  not  then 
called  Carlton,  that  the  Continental  Army  encamped  in 
1777  during  the  first  week  in  August  before  the  Battle 
of  the  Brandywnne  and  also  for  two  days  in  September 
of  that  year  after  the  battle.  In  a  letter  from  Wash- 
ington to  Edward  Rutledge,  dated  Fishkill,  October  5, 
1778,  he  says:  "  In  the  month  of  August  last  year  [1777] 
from  the  house  of  Henry  Hill,  near  Germantown,  where 
I  was  then  encamped,  I  wrote  you  a  long  letter." 

Lieutenant  James  INIcjMichael,  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Line,  writes  in  his  diary  of  the  stir  thc}^  made  in  the  town: 

258 


CARLTON 


The  largest  collection  of  young  ladies  I  almost  ever  beheld 
came  to  camp.  They  marched  in  three  columns.  The  field  offi- 
cers paraded  the  rest  of  the  officers  and  detached  scouting  parties 
to  prevent  being  surrounded  by  them.  For  my  part  being  sent 
on  scout,  I  at  last  sighted  the  ladies  and  gave  them  to  know 
that  they  must  repair  to  headquarters,  upon  which  they  accom- 
panied me  as  prisoners.  But  on  parading  them  at  the  Colonel's 
marquee,  they  were  dismissed  after  we  treated  them  with  a  double 
bowl  of  Sangaree. 

During  the  first  encampment  a  review  of  the  army 
was  held  on  August  8,  of  which  the  Marquis  de  La- 
fayette writes  in  the  third  person: 

About  11000  men,  ill  armed  and  still  worse  clothed,  presented 
a  strange  spectacle  to  the  eye  of  the  young  Frenchman.  Their 
clothes  were  parti-coloured  and  many  of  them  were  almost  naked ; 
the  best  clad  wore  hunting  shirts,  large  gray  linen  coats,  which 
were  much  used  in  Carolina,  As  to  their  military  tactics  it  will 
be  sufficient  to  say  that  for  a  regiment  ranged  in  order  of  battle 
to  move  forward  on  the  right  of  its  line  it  was  necessary  for  the 
left  to  make  a  continued  countermarch.  They  were  always  ar- 
ranged in  two  lines,  the  smallest  men  in  the  first  line.  No  other 
distinction  as  to  height  was  ever  observ^ed.  In  spite  of  these  dis- 
advantages the  soldiers  were  fine  and  officers  zealous ;  virtue  stood 
in  place  of  science,  and  each  day  added  to  experience  and  discipline. 

No  doubt  the  Commander-in-Chief  and  his  officers, 
Generals  Greene,  Knox,  Stirling,  Maxwell,  Wayne, 
Moylan,  Stephen,  Muhlenberg,  Weeden,  Morgan,  and 
Nash,  were  grouped  with  JNIr.  Hill  and  his  family  on 
the  little  knoll  upon  which  the  house  stood,  to  watch 
this  review  of  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  and  we 
may  imagine  their  emotions  as  they  watched  the  tattered 

259 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

heroes  pass,  soon  to  meet  the  hail  of  bullets  at  Brandy- 
wine  and  the  rigours  of  winter  at  Valley  Forge. 

General  AVashington  wrote  a  long  letter  to  his 
brotlier  Jolin,  dated  August  5,  1777,  from  JNIr.  Hill's 
house.  lie  speaks  of  the  long  march  in  the  extreme  heat 
and  the  consequent  fatigue  and  injuries  of  the  men.  They 
remained  here  encamped  until  the  afternoon  of  August 
8,  when,  believing  that  the  enemy  had  abandoned  all  de- 
signs against  Philadelphia,  orders  were  given  to  march 
back  to  Coryell's  Ferry  [New  Hope,  Pa.].  But  on  re- 
ceipt of  information  that  the  enemy's  fleet  had  been  seen 
near  the  Capes  of  the  Delaware  they  were  halted  and 
encamped  on  the  Old  York  Road  near  the  Neshaminy 
Creek  half  a  mile  above  the  present  village  of  Harts- 
ville,  Bucks  County,  where  they  remained  until  August 
23.  As  we  have  seen  they  were  again  at  ]Mr.  Hill's  place 
after  the  Battle  of  the  Brandywine.  Many  faces  were 
missing  and  they  must  have  presented  a  distressing  sight 
compared  with  that  brave  review  but  a  month  before. 

When  the  British  iVi-my  occupied  Germanto\\qi  in 
1777  the  Hessians  formed  the  left  wing  and  were  en- 
camped from  the  village  to  the  Schuylkill  River.  At 
this  time  their  commander.  General  Knyphausen,  had  his 
headquarters  at  Carlton,  so  that  within  a  short  space  of 
time  it  was  the  brilliant  scene  of  the  encampments  of 
])oth  armies.  What  a  busy  and  exciting  time  for  the 
household  of  Henry  Hill  it  must  have  been!  We 
can  imagine  the  pride  and  pleasure  with  wliich  he  enter- 
tained General  Washington  and  his  distinguished  staff 
and  his  subsequent  uneasiness  when  the  place  was  filled 
witli  Hessians.     There  must  have  been  action  about  the 

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CARLTON 


house,  too,  as  a  stone  in  the  wall  on  Indian  Queen  Lane 
testifies.  This  stone  was  removed  to  its  present  loca- 
tion from  a  crumbling  wall  nearby  and  is  thus  inscribed, 
"  Ruined  by  the  war  1777  rebuilt  more  firmly  by  the 
trusty  Isaac  Tustin." 

The  present  house  was  built  by  Mr.  Hill,  as  a  stone 
in  the  foundation  of  the  porch  states,  in  1780,  on  the  site 
of  the  old  farmhouse.  It  is  a  stone  plastered  structure 
of  two  and  a  half  storeys  standing  upon  a  knoll  and  has 
two  wings,  one  longer  than  the  other.  There  are  two 
bays  in  front  and  one  dormer  in  the  roof.  The  rooms 
are  of  the  depth  of  the  house  and  there  are  several  to  the 
right  and  left  of  the  hallway.  The  partitions  are  of 
solid  stone  plastered  without  lathing. 

As  Mr.  Hill  had  no  descendants  the  place  was  sold 
to  Thomas  Lee,  brother  of  Bishop  Lee,  who  called  it 
Roxborough.  There  is  still  the  mark  of  his  wife,  "  R. 
Lee,"  cut  on  a  pane  of  glass  with  a  diamond. 

The  next  owner  was  John  C.  Craig,  who  married 
Jane  Josephine  Riddle,  and  was  a  man  of  great  wealth. 
He  maintained  a  stud  of  racehorses  and  had  a  racecourse 
in  front  of  the  house.  Mr.  Craig  was  taken  ill  and  died 
while  abroad  in  1840.  In  May  of  that  year  the  place 
was  sold  to  Mr.  Cornelius  Smith,  who  changed  its  name 
from  the  Plantation  of  Roxborough  to  the  present  Carl- 
ton, at  the  suggestion  of  a  relative  because  of  his  wife's 
name,  Elizabeth — Carlton  being  the  name  of  one  of 
Queen  Elizabeth's  castles.  It  is  now  occupied  by  his 
son  and  his  daughter,  Robert  S.  Smith  and  Mrs.  New- 
hall,  and  a  large  part  of  the  estate  forms  the  modern 
settlement  of  Queen  Lane  Manor. 


SPRING  BANK 

TOWNSHIP  LINE.  GERMANTOWN 

RrnEXIIOUSE— CARE— PRATT— IVLVSON- 

WELSH— SMITH 


LOWBER- 


pPRING  BANK  is  situated  on  the 
west  side  of  Wissahickon  Avenue 
near  where  Westview  Street  joins 
it  from  the  east.  Wissahickon  Ave- 
nue is  the  old  Township  Line  Road 
which  divided  Gerniantown  from 
Roxborough  Township  and  now 
separates  the  twenty-second  and  twenty-first  wards  of 
Philadelphia. 

It  is  not  known  just  when  the  house  was  built  but  on 
February  12,  173G,  JNlatthias  Jacobs  and  his  wife  Bar- 
bara conveyed  the  sixty  acres  wath  the  buildings  and 
improvements  to  William  Rittenhousen  of  Roxborough 
Township,  the  grandson  of  William  Rittenhousen,  who 
was  born  in  1664  in  the  principality  of  Broich  on  the 
Ruhr.  His  ancestors  had  long  been  makers  of  paper  at 
Arnheim,  and  wiien  taking  the  oath  of  citizenship  in 
Amsterdam  he  was  described  as  a  papermaker  from 
JMuhlheim.  He  emigrated  to  New^  York  with  his  three 
children,  but  finding  no  printer  there  to  use  the  product 
of  his  industry,  came  to  Gerniantown  in  1688,  and  in  1690 
l)uilt  the  first  papermill  in  America  on  a  little  stream 
called  tlie  JMonoshone  Creek,  and  later  Pa])cr  ]Mill  Run, 
wliicli  flowed  into  the  Wissahickon.  The  mill  w^as  w^ashed 
away  })y  a  flood  several  times  but  was  always  rebuilt,  and 
the  original  house  of  the  family  still  stands  on  the  I^in- 
coln  Drive  where  Rittenhouse  Street  comes  down  from 

262 


SPRING   BANK 


Germantown.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  family  here 
and  his  great-grandson,  David  Rittenhouse,  was  the  fa- 
mous astronomer,  philosopher,  and  statesman,  who  was 
president  of  the  Philosophical  Society,  treasurer  of  the 
State,  director  of  the  mint,  and  died  in  1796.  William 
Rittenhouse  was  the  first  iMennonite  preacher  in  German- 
town,  being  chosen  October  8,  1702. 

The  Spring  Bank  property  is  not  far  from  the  paper- 
mill  and  no  doubt  the  Rittenhouse  family  owned  all  of 
the  intervening  land. 

William  died  on  February  18,  1708,  and  the  paper- 
making  was  carried  on  by  his  son  "  Clans,"  who  died 
in  1734  and  left  the  mill  to  his  son  William,  the  pur- 
chaser of  Spring  Bank,  and  who  is  described  in  the  deed 
as  "  paper  maker."  He  had  three  sons,  Jacob,  Martin, 
and  Nicholas.  Jacob  had  the  mill  during  the  Revolu- 
tion and  was  one  of  the  minute-men  to  go  out  with  the 
Roxborough  troops.  Nicholas  Rittenhouse  was  a  miller 
and  probably  operated  the  mill  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  WissahJckon  Creek,  the  foundations  of  which  are 
still  standing.  At  the  death  of  his  father,  William,  he 
took  the  place  by  conveyance  from  Nicholas  in  the  par- 
tition of  the  estate,  and  in  1795  sold  it  to  Peter  Care, 
an  eminent  miller  and  flour  merchant  of  the  city,  who  sold 
it,  in  1803,  to  Henry  Pratt,  his  son-in-law. 

Henry  Pratt  was  the  son  of  JNIatthew  Pratt,  a  famous 
"  limner  "  of  1758,  whose  father  learned  to  be  a  gold- 
smith from  Philip  Syng. 

They  lived  in  Water  Street,  Philadelphia,  and  Henry 
was  thrice  married,  his  last  wife  being  Susanna  Care, 
daughter  of  Peter  and  Anna   Barbara   Care.     In   179G 

203 


COLONIAL    HOMES   OF   PIIILADELPIILV 


Ilcnry  l*ratt  bought  the  residence  of  Isaac  Wharton  at 
112  North  Front  Street  between  the  houses  of  Abraham 
Kintzing,  his  partner,  and  Henry  Drinker.  Thereupon 
the  Cares  moved  to  the  Water  Street  house. 

Wlien  Henry  Pratt  parted  with  the  Spring  Bank 
property  in  1816,  it  passed  through  the  hands  of  Joseph 
Huckel,  dentist,  Jonathan  and  George  Thomas,  mer- 
cliants,  and  William  Overington,  farmer,  until  it  came, 
in  1825,  to  Samuel  jNIason,  the  steward  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Hospital,  described  in  the  deeds  as  "  Gentleman." 

Samuel  Mason  was  an  Irish  Friend  who  was  one  of 
the  founders  and  first  trustees  of  the  Germantown 
F^riends'  IMeeting  on  School  House  Lane,  in  which  the 
Rittenhouses  and  Livezeys  were  also  prominent. 

During  his  care  of  this  Meeting  there  arose  a  matter 
of  discipline  which  was  long  before  the  Meeting  for  settle- 
ment. It  so  preyed  upon  the  mind  of  one  concerned 
Friend,  Priscilla  Deaves,  that  she  became  unbalanced 
and  took  every  occasion  to  preach  from  the  text,  "  The 
Innocent  Suffer,  while  the  Guilty  go  Free."  Having 
been  admonished  in  vain,  it  was  decided  to  adopt  sum- 
mary measures,  and  when  she  next  arose  two  stalwart 
elders  stepped  to  her  side  and  raising  her  upon  their 
shoulders  bore  her  down  the  aisle  toward  the  door. 
Whereupon  she  exclaimed :  "  I  am  more  honoured  than 
our  Saviour,  He  was  carried  on  the  back  of  one  ass, 
while  I  am  borne  on  the  backs  of  two." 

Samuel  Mason  established  a  sanatorium  at  Spring 
Bank,  and  lived  there  until  1838,  when  it  was  sold  to 
George  Wilson,  "  marble  mason "  and  farmer,  from 
whom  Doctor  Edward  Lowber  bought  it  in  1840. 

2G4 


SPRING  BANK 


Doctor  Lowber  married  Elizabeth  Twells,  and  their 
daughter,  Mary,  became  the  second  wife  of  John  Welsh, 
son  of  John  and  Jemima  JMaris  Welsh.  Doctor  Lowber 
bequeathed  the  estate  to  his  son,  William  T.  Lowber,  and 
his  grandchildren  Welsh.  From  these  John  Welsh  pur- 
chased the  place  in  1870.  Mr.  Welsh  had  first  married 
Rebecca  Bass  Miller  and  Spring  Bank  is  now  owned  by  a 
daughter  of  this  marriage  who  is  JNIrs.  J.  Somers  Smith. 

John  Welsh  was  an  eminent  and  successful  merchant 
of  great  executive  ability.  He  began  his  long  public 
service  as  chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Sanatory  Fair  in  1864  and  nine  years  later  was  chosen 
president  of  the  Board  of  Finance  of  the  Centennial 
Exliibition.  His  successful  administration  of  this  trust 
is  well  known,  and  in  1877  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia 
presented  him  with  a  fund  of  $50,000  which  he  donated 
to  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  to  endow  the  "  John 
Welsh  Centennial  Professorship  of  History  and  Eng- 
lish Literature."  It  was  largely  through  his  efforts  that 
the  University  buildings  in  West  Philadelphia  were 
erected  and  paid  for. 

President  Grant  offered  him  the  positon  of  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  but  he  declined,  only  to  be  appointed 
by  President  Hayes  Minister  to  Great  Britain,  where 
his  distinguished  service  made  him  liighly  popular  at  the 
English  Court.  He  received  the  degree  of  LL.D.  from 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and  from  Washington  and 
Lee  University  as  well  as  other  honours  from  various 
European  sovereigns.  He  occupied  many  positions  of 
trust  in  the  philanthropic,  financial,  and  business  organi- 
sations of  Philadelphia  and  died  at  the  advanced  age  of 

265 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PlIILADELPinA 


eighty-one.  lie  was  verj'  fond  of  Spring  Bank  and  gave 
considerable  of  his  land  to  Fairmount  Park,  including 
"  Molly  Kinker's  Rock  "  where  he  erected  a  heroic  statue 
of  AVilliani  Penn,  called  "  Toleration,"  which  overlooks 
the  valley  of  the  Wissahickon.  Back  of  the  house  is  a 
walk  leading  to  the  brink  of  the  hill  where  are  two  trees 
and  a  seat  joined  to  them  where  he  loved  to  sit  and  sur- 
vey the  view  so  much  like  Berkshire  in  old  England  with 
its  forests  and  cleared  fields.  Perhaps  there  is  no  place 
so  near  the  city  which  preserves  the  wild  conditions  of 
the  past  so  well  as  this  one.  Here  the  raccoons  still  steal 
the  corn  and  foxes  scamper  across  the  lawns.  All  the 
old  features  of  early  days  are  evident — the  smoke  house, 
the  spring  house,  and  the  fish  pond  at  the  base  of  the  lit- 
tle hill  upon  which  the  house  stands.  It  was  in  such 
ponds  as  this  that  the  early  settlers  preserved  the  fish, 
which  they  had  caught,  until  a  suitable  time  for  eating. 
The  stone  plastered  house  has  been  added  to  many  times 
and  is  on  several  levels.  The  big  fireplace  and  the  crane 
are  still  to  be  seen  and  while  the  architecture  is  not  pre- 
tentious it  is  most  quaint  and  interesting. 


»  .  >     '  1 


>  ,  >     >  11 


>       )        >»>)1) 


GATEWAY    AT    GLEX    FERN 

Siuce  restoration 


sriii.Ni;  HANK,  c;i:n.MANT(jWN 

Hiiill  liy  WllliiiiM  l{itt.iihoii>.-,  C-.   nHfi. 


GLEN  FERN 

WISSAHICKON  CREEK,  GERMANTOWN 
SHOEMAKER— LIVEZEY 


£)HERE  Wissahickon  Avenue  ends  at 
Allen's  Lane,  in  Germantown,  Live- 
zey's  Lane  runs  down  toward  the 
Wissahickon  Creek  in  a  northerly 
direction.  The  creek  is  but  a  short 
distance  away  and  on  its  banks  stands 
Glen  Fern,  more  commonly  known 
as  the  Livezey  House,  surrounded  by  numerous  dilapi- 
dated buildings  which  originally  served  as  mills,  granaries, 
and  cooper  shops.  The  mill  was  built  by  Thomas  Shoe- 
maker, who  conveyed  it  to  Thomas  Livezev  October  10, 
Yl^l.  He  was  probably  the  son  of  Jacob  and  jNIargaret 
Shoemaker  as  this  was  the  only  Thomas  Shoemaker  of  a 
possible  age  in  the  country  at  this  time.  Jacob  was  the 
first  to  arrive  in  Germantown,  coming  with  Pastorius  in 
the  ship  America  which  sailed  from  Gravesend,  England, 
June  6,  1682,  and  arrived  August  16,  of  the  same  year. 
He  gave  the  land  upon  which  the  Germantown  Friends' 
Meeting  now  stands  at  Coulter  and  JNIain  Streets  and  was 
sheriff  of  the  town  in  1690.  The  son  Thomas  married 
Mary  Powel  in  1775. 

The  progenitor  of  the  Livezeys  was  Thomas,  who 
came  from  Chester,  England,  about  1680,  and  settled  on 
the  Pennypack  Creek  in  Lower  Dublin  Township.  He 
also  had  a  house  on  the  south  side  of  Chestnut  Street, 
Philadelphia,  midway  between  Fourth  and  Fifth  Streets, 
where  he  lived  for  the  first  three  years.  He  served  on 
the  first  grand  jury  of  the  first  court  held  in  the  Province, 

267 


(OLOXIAL    IIOMKS   OF   riULADELPlllA 

.January  2,  1G81.  His  land  consisted  of  seven  hundred 
and  lif'ty  acres  and  the  original  house  is  still  standing 
about  a  mile  east  of  Fox  Chase  in  the  thirtv-fifth  ward 
of  riiiladelphia.  A  son,  Jonathan,  married  Rachel 
Taylor  and  of  the  six  children  born  to  them,  Thomas,  who 
married  Elizabeth  Heath,  was  the  father  of  Thomas,  Jr., 
born  January  23,  1723,  who  bought  the  property  on  the 
Wissahickon  Creek. 

Thomas  Livezey  was  a  many  sided  man;  he  lived  be- 
side his  mill  on  the  Wissaliickon  and  cultivated  a  large 
farm  on  the  hillside  and  adjacent  country.  His  house 
stood  on  a  terrace  with  stone  steps  leading  up  to  the 
door  with  seats  on  each  side,  over  which  there  is  a  bal- 
cony. The  hallway  is  rather  small  with  a  winding  stair- 
way leading  to  the  second  storey.  The  rooms  are  wains- 
cotted  in  wliite  panels  and  there  is  a  fireplace  in  each 
room  surrounded  by  dark  marble.  In  the  kitchen  there 
is  a  fireplace  of  huge  dimensions,  large  enough  for  sev- 
eral people  to  sit  in,  w^ith  a  window  alongside  the  seat  in  the 
inglenook  which  they  called  the  "  courtin  corner."  In 
front  of  the  house  the  old  box-bushes  denote  the  presence 
of  a  garden. 

A  spring  sparkles  forth  at  one  end  of  the  house  and 
the  whole  is  surrounded  by  the  virgin  forest. 

Thomas  Livezey  was  somewhat  of  a  wag  and  given 
to  expressing  himself  in  verse  at  times.  While  inter- 
ested in  the  law  itself,  as  his  mention  of  Blackstone's 
Commentaries  in  his  will  indicates,  he  enjoyed  an  oppor- 
tunity to  cast  aspersions  playfully  upon  its  practitioners. 
He  was  a  fellow-trustee  of  the  Union  School  of  German- 
town,    now    the    Germantown    Academy,    with    Joseph 

2G8 


GLEN  FERN 


Galloway,  a  prominent  Friend,  la>vyer,  and  politician. 
They  seem  to  have  been  very  close  friends  and  Galloway 
was  wont  to  poke  fun  at  his  friend  Livezey  for  living 
in  such  a  hidden  place  as  the  wilds  of  the  Wissahickon, 
so  far  removed  from  the  busy  world  and  so  inaccessible. 
This  gave  him  the  occasion  to  describe  his  abode  in  the 
following  lines: 
Dear  Friend  I^^c.  14th.  1769. 

As  thou  hast  often  concluded  from  the  lowness  of  my  situa- 
tion, that  I  must  be  nearly  connected  with  the  lower  regions,  or 
some  infernal  place  of  abode,  I  have  sent  thee  the  following  true 
description  of  the  place  of  my  residence  in  order  to  convince  thee 
of  that  errour. 

Near  Wissahiccon's  mossy  banks,  where  perling  fountains  glide, 
Beneath  the  spruce's  shady  boughs,  and  laurels  blooming  pride. 
Where  little  fishes  sport  and  play,  diverting  to  the  sight. 
Whilst  all  the  warbling  winged  race,  afford  the  ear  delight. 
Here's  evergreens  by  nature  set,  on  which  those  songsters  sing, 
And  flowery  aromatic  groves,  form  an  eternal  Spring. 
Refreshing  breezes  round  me  move,  which  with  the  blossoms  play, 
And  balmy  odours  on  their  wings,  through  all  my  vale  convey. 
Those  charming  scenes,  didst  thou  dwell  here,  would  all  thy  care 

beguile 
And  in  the  room  of  anxious  fear,  would  fonn  a  harmless  smile. 
Here's  innocence  and  harmony,  which  raises  thoughts  sublime 
Little  inferior  to  the  place,  call'd  Eden  in  its  prime. 
Thus  situated  here  I  dwell,  where  these  sweet  zephyrs  move, 
And  little  rivulet  from  rocks,  add  beauty  to  my  grove. 
I  drink  the  wine  my  liills  afford,  on  wholesome  food  I  dine, 
My  Httle  offspring  round  me  are,  like  clusters  on  the  vine. 
I,  hand  in  hand,  with  second  self  oft  walk  amidst  the  bowers. 
Whilst  all  our  little  prattling  ones,  are  gathering  opening  flowers, 

2G9 


COLOMAI.   HOMES   OF    PHILADELPHIA 


III  this  low  station  here  Tin  Hx'd  nor  envy  courts  nor  kinj^s, 
Nor  crave  the  hon'rs  statesmen  crave  nor  cares  which  riches  bring, 
lion's  a  dangerous  tempting  thing,  wliich  oft  lead  men  astray, 
Riclies  like  insects  from  them  wing,  and  quickly  flee  away. 
]\Iy   meditations   here  arc   free  from   interrupting  strife. 
Whilst   different   ways  aspiring  men   pursue  indifferent  life. 
I  see  what  art  the  clergy  use,  who  will  be  paid  to  pray, 
And  how  poor  clients  are  abused,  by  Lawyers  long  delay ; 
I  sec  what  cunning  artifice,  the  busy  world  employ. 
Whilst  I  this  lonely  seat  of  bliss,  uncnvied  here  enjoy. 
This  is  the  place  of  my  abode  where  humbly  here  I  dwell. 
Which  in  romantic  Lawyer  mood,  thou  hast  compar'd  to  hell 
But  paradise  where  Adam  dwelt,  in  blissful  love  &  ease, 
A  Lawyer  would  compare  to  hell,  if  thence  he  got  no  fees. 
Canst  thou  prefer  heaven  on  earth,  thy  fee  the  root  of  evil, 
To  this  my  lonely  harmless  place,  my  hell  without  a  devil? 

Pennit  me  from  my  low  situation  to  thine  of  eminence,  to  do 
myself  that  justice  as  to  say,  I  am  with  much  respect  thy  sincere 

^'''^"^-  Thomas  Lr'ezey. 

I  shall  conclude  with  the  words  made  use  of  by  Zacheus  of 
old,  "  Come  down.  Come  down  quickly,  for  I  want  thee  to  dine 
at  my  house." 

Besides  being  a  founder  of  the  Union  School  House 
of  Germantown  in  1759,  he  was  a  justice  of  the  peace 
and  a  Provincial  Commissioner  in  1765.  Being  a  Friend, 
he  took  no  part  in  the  struggle  for  independence,  but  at 
the  time  of  the  Battle  of  Germantown,  hearing  the  roar 
of  the  cannon,  he  ascended  the  hill  back  of  his  house  and 
cliMd)cd  onto  a  fence  to  get  a  view  of  the  lighting.  But 
a  stray  bullet  broke  off  a  limb  of  the  tree  under  which 

270 


GLEN  FERN 


he  was,  and  he  conckided  it  was  best  to  return  to  the 
house. 

The  house  has  capacious  cellars  and  during  the  troub- 
lous times  of  the  Revolution  the  girls  of  the  family  to- 
gether with  all  the  eatables  and  drinkables  were  locked 
below  stairs  for  safety.  Upon  one  occasion  during  the 
British  occupancy  of  Germanto^vTi  some  red-coated  sol- 
diers came  to  the  house  and  demanded  food.  The  women 
folk  said  they  had  been  cooking  all  day  and  were  too 
weary  to  prepare  it.  Whereupon  one  of  the  soldiers 
drew  his  sword  and  smote  off  one  of  the  women's  ears.  An 
officer  entering  at  the  time  demanded  to  know  who  had 
done  such  a  foul  deed  and  when  the  soldier  was  pointed 
out  to  him  he  clave  the  culprit's  head  in  twain  with 
his  sabre. 

Livezey  cultivated  a  fine  vineyard  on  his  hillside  and 
his  wine,  indeed,  brought  him  a  little  modest  renown,  for 
his  friend,  Robert  Wharton,  sent  a  dozen  bottles  of  it 
to  Benjamin  Franklin  from  whom  he  received  this  reply: 

DEAa  Frie^-i,-  I'*™»'-y  20-1768. 

I  received  your  favours  of  November  17th.  &  18th., with  another 
dozen  bottles  of  excellent  wine,  the  manufacture  of  our  friend 
Livezey.  I  thank  you  for  the  care  you  have  taken  in  forwarding 
them,  and  for  your  good  wishes  that  accompany  them. 

Bexjamin  Franklin. 

An  interesting  description  of  the  troubles  these  early 
Colonists  had  to  meet  is  contained  in  Elizabeth  Drinker's 
Journal  under  date  of  October  24,  1793,  in  wliich  she 
states  that  Thomas  Livezey's  mill  was  on  fire  and  that 

271 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


crowds  of  people  witli  buckets  went  on  foot  and  on  horse- 
back together  witli  the  fire  engine  commonly  known  as 
the  *'  Shag  Hag,"  now  in  the  museum  of  the  JNIutual  Fire 
Association,  JNIain  Street  and  School  House  Lane.  The 
mill  was  burned  down  and  six  hundred  barrels  of  flour, 
five  hundred  bushels  of  wheat,  and  a  quantity  of  salt  and 
g-inger  were  lost,  amounting  to  three  thousand  pounds 
sterling,  indicating  that  Livezey  did  no  inconsiderable 
business  at  that  time.  F]ilizabeth  Drinker  adds  that 
"  the  sufferers  were  pretty  well  and  much  composed 
considering." 

Even  in  his  trade  Livezey  broke  into  verse,  as  this  to 
Thomas  Wharton  shows: 

Respected  Friend  I've  sent  thee  bran 
As  Neat  &  Clean  as  any  Man 
I've  took  Great  Pains  for  fear  of  Loss 
To  thee  in  foundering  of  thy  Horse 
It's  Ground  With  Bur  and  Ground  so  nice 
It  Looks  t'was  bolted  twace 
But  that's  No  matter  Since  it's  Such 
thy  Man  Can't  ever  feed  tomuch 
I  mean  Can't  founder  if  he  would 
I've  took  Such  pains  to  Make  it  Good. 
Nor  will  it  Ever  Dust  his  Cloaths 
Nor  Give  thy  horse  a  Mealy  Nose 
And  further  in  its  praise  I'll  Say 
t'will  Never  Make  him  Runaway 
but  if  on  this  alone  he's   fed 
a   Child  may  hold   him  with  a  thread 
feed  frceh'  then  Nor  be  in  Doubt 
I'le  send  thee  More  wlien  this  is  out. 

272 


GLEN  FERN 


It  is  30  bushels  I  have  sent  thee,  and  Notwithstanding  the 
Labour  &  Care  I  have  taken  to  oblige  thee  which  the  bran  itself 
will  testify  to  anyone  Who  is  a  Judge  I  have  Charged  only  15 
pr  bushell — Lower  than  Can  Well  be  aforded  but  I  shall  not  Re- 
.gard  that  as  it  is  to  a  friend — it  May  appear  to  thee  perhaps 
that  I  have  Said  Rather  tomuch  in  praise  of  the  bran  yet  upon 
Examination  I  think  it  will  appear  .  .  .  (illegible)  .  .  . 
for  if  it  Don'  fully  answer  the  Description  I  have  Given  it  I 
should  not  be  unwilling  to  make  some  abatement  in  price — this 
from  thy   Most   Respectful   &   Sincere   friend 

Thomas  Livezey. 

Thomas  Wharton  was  cousin  to  that  Thomas 
Wharton  whose  father,  Joseph  Wharton,  owned  Walnut 
Grove  in  Southwark  where  the  "  Mischianza  "  was  held. 
He  was  a  prominent  merchant  in  Philadelphia,  a  friend 
of  Galloway  and  of  Goddard  the  printer,  and  a  partner 
with  them  in  the  establishment  of  the  latter's  newspaper, 
the  Chronicle.  He  was  on  the  King's  side,  as  was  Gallo- 
way, was  arrested  as  a  Loyalist  by  order  of  Congress, 
exiled  to  Virginia,  and  his  estates  confiscated. 

From  these  examples  of  his  writings  we  must  not 
think  of  him  as  an  illiterate  man.  He  came  to  dwell  in 
Germantown  from  well  out  in  the  country  near  the 
present  Fox  Chase,  and  the  schools  in  that  early  day  were 
purely  elementary.  We  see,  however,  his  gentle  spirit,  fair 
in  his  dealings  and  appreciative  of  the  beautiful  things 
he  found  in  nature. 

In  these  early  days  the  Wissahickon  Creek  was  more 
than  twice  its  present  size  and  volume,  the  cutting  of  the 
forests  along  its  banks  and  near  its  source  having  de- 
creased it  since  then.     It  was  a  favourite  course  for  the 

18  273 


( OLOXIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


Indians  of  the  Delaware  tribe  and  for  some  famous  her- 
mits. Here  it  was  that  the  learned  Kelpius  had  his  cave 
and  nearby  Glen  Fern,  on  a  hill  above  a  woody  romantic 
dell  through  which  the  creek  meandered,  was  the  Monas- 
tery built  by  Joseph  Gorgas,  a  Tunker-Baptist,  who  in- 
tended it  as  a  branch  of  the  brotherhood  established  at 
Ephrata  in  Lancaster  County. 

The  entrance  to  Glen  Fern  was  secured  by  the  pur- 
chase of  a  private  right  of  way  from  the  property  owners 
from  the  Cresheim  Creek  near  the  present  Allen's  Lane 
station  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  about  a  mile  dis- 
tant. This  followed  the  line  of  Allen's  Lane  named  for 
Major  Allen,  whose  great  house  stood  where  the  road 
joined  the  Main  Street. 

There  was  no  means  of  refining  the  grist  which  was 
brought  to  the  mill  and  often  garlic  became  noticeable 
in  the  flour.  This  flour  was  not  marketable  in  Philadel- 
phia and  so  there  arose  a  large  foreign  trade,  for  Livezey 
found  a  ready  sale  for  the  flour  in  the  West  Indies  and 
countries  of  the  south.  To  the  profits  he  added  Spanish 
dollars  diligently  gathered  from  the  country  round  and 
so  back  in  the  ships  came  silks  and  delicate  shades  of 
crepe  and  handsome  chinaware.  Thus  the  son  John  be- 
came a  great  merchant  in  the  city  and  rode  thence  and 
back  each  day  upon  horseback. 

Thomas  Livezey  married  Martha  Knowles  April  2, 
1748,  the  year  after  his  purchase  of  Glen  Fern.  Five 
sons  and  five  daughters  were  born  to  them.  Rachel  mar- 
ried John  .Johnson,  Martha,  Peter  Robeson,  and  Ann, 
Isaac  Williams,  all  of  prominent  Germantown  families. 

274 


5  3      »',    '      >        J       •> 

'  3      1    ',3       3  3  3 


•  '    *    ^  '  *      '  ^ 

"           ■                .       •  '  '      J  ,'      ,  '        >      ,          ,   , 

I        3       '3»        >                '       •  ,  3*     »  S       >  '3>      '       3,3 

3          3           33)3>1  3*3  'j>           333^3 


GLEN  FERN 


The  sons,  John  and  Joseph,  inherited  Glen  Fern  and 
carried  on  the  business. 

John  married  Abigail  Ridgway  and  had  two  sons, 
John  and  Thomas.  John  married  Sarah  Marshall  and 
had  no  issue ;  Thomas  married  Ann  Louise  Phillips.  They 
lived  at  Glen  Fern  and  there  were  born  their  children, 
John,  Joseph,  Anna,  and  Sarah. 

The  mill  continued  to  prosper  and  in  the  autumn  the 
farmers  brought  in  their  gi'ain.  Often  their  waggons 
formed  a  solid  line  from  the  mill  to  the  Main  Street  a 
mile  distant,  waiting  to  be  unloaded.  Thomas  was  the 
last  to  operate  the  mill  and,  about  fifty  years  ago,  it  was 
turned  to  the  manufacture  of  linseed  oil  for  thirty  years 
or  more.  The  property  was  purchased  for  Fairmount 
Park  in  the  year  1869,  and  the  mill  was  continued  for  a 
couple  of  years  as  a  grist  mill  by  J.  Wagner  Jermon  and 
then  torn  down.  It  was  the  second  mill  on  the  place, 
having  been  built  after  the  fire  already  described,  and 
stood  under  the  present  pier  of  the  recent  bridge  over  the 
creek.  The  road  along  the  banks  of  the  creek  was  built 
in  1826  from  the  Ridge  Road  to  the  Rittenhouse  Mill 
down  toward  the  city.  It  was  continued  and  completed 
to  the  Montgomery  Coimty  Line  in  1856,  being  owned 
by  the  Wissahickon  Turnpike  Company,  who  collected 
toll  from  travellers  until  the  road,  with  the  remainder 
of  the  ravine,  became  part  of  Fairmount  Park  in  1869. 

On  the  hill  back  of  Glen  Fern  just  outside  the  park 
limits,  John  Livezey  and  Sarah  Livezey  Firth  live  in  an 
ancient  house  on  part  of  the  original  tract.  The  house  is 
filled  with  fine  old  furniture  and  bric-a-brac   from   tlie 

275 


(  OLOMAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


early  times.  Here  also  is  a  painting  of  Glen  Fern  by 
I'eale  and  a  portrait  of  the  first  John  Livezey  by  Sully. 
(Tien  Fern  is  now  occupied  by  the  Valley  Green 
Canoe  Club,  which  has  restored  it,  with  the  help  of  John 
I^ivezey,  the  former  owner,  and  which  keeps  it  in  excellent 
condition. 


■■     J  '',  '  ■•    > 


)  -  >    '  J 


^  o    >      »  :  ^  > 


>      >       )>>jj> 


>  ,  >    *  'v    ?    ,  '   '    >  ,  > 


a 
"  2 

5   n 

S    H 


a 

H 

s 


HOPE  LODGE 

WHITEMARSH  VALLEY 
MORRIS— WEST— WATMOUGH— SERGEANT— REED— 

WENTZ 


=^OPE  LODGE,  in  the  Whitemarsh 
Valley,  is  on  the  Bethlehem  Pike 
just  north  of  its  junction  with  the 
Skippack  Pike  and  is  close  by  St. 
Thomas's  Church  and  Whitemarsh 
station.  The  house  is  second  to  none 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Philadelphia 
either  in  its  broad  dignity  or  in  the  purity  of  its  Georgian 
architecture.  In  every  detail  it  is  thoroughly  typical  of 
the  phase  prevalent  at  the  particular  time  when  it  w^as 
built;  furthermore  it  is  typical  of  the  kind  of  large  brick 
countryseat  peculiar  to  this  section  of  the  Colonies. 

An  avenue  of  overarching  trees  leads  from  the  road 
to  the  house  which  stands  on  a  slight  rise.  A  little  to  the 
west  is  St.  Thomas's  Hill,  thrice  held  by  soldiers  during 
the  Revolutionary  struggle.  In  front,  to  the  north  across 
the  pike,  the  Wissahickon  winds  through  peaceful  mead- 
ows and  beyond  rises  the  long  slope  of  wood-crowned 
Militia  Hill — every  rood  of  land  full  of  historic  mem- 
ories. By  the  banks  of  the  stream,  with  moss-grown 
dam  and  placid  leat,  is  an  ancient  stone  mill  that  once 
ground  corn  for  all  the  Colonists  far  and  near;  even  Sir 
William  Keith  used  to  send  wain  loads  of  grain  hither 
all  the  way  from  Graeme  Park  at  Horsham. 

Hope  Lodge  is  a  great  square  structure  of  two  storeys 
in  height  with  a  hipped  roof.  The  doors  and  windows 
are  of  a  style  commonly  met  with  in  buildings  of  the 

277 


(OLOMAL    HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  such  as  Stenton 
or  Graeme  Park,  and  are  higher  and  narrower  than 
those  of  a  later  period,  while  over  their  tops  are  slightly 
arched  lintels  or  flattened  arches,  whichever  one  chooses 
to  consider  them.  Over  some  of  the  doors  are  transoms 
of  seven  or  eight  square  lights  in  a  row. 

A  hall  of  unusual  width,  far  larger  than  most  rooms 
nowadays,  traverses  the  full  depth  of  the  house  and  opens 
into  spacious  chambers  on  each  side.  The  chief  rooms 
have  round-arched  doorways  and  narrow  double  doors 
heavily  panelled.  All  the  panelling,  in  fact,  is  heavy. 
There  are  deep-panelled  window-seats  in  the  ground- 
floor  rooms  and  the  windows  have  exceptionally  broad 
and  heavy  sash-bars.  The  breadth  of  the  fireplaces  and 
the  massiveness  of  the  wainscotting  correspond  \\ath  the 
other  features.  Midway  back  in  the  hall,  a  flattened 
arch  springs  from  fluted  pilasters.  The  stairway,  which 
is  remarkably  good  and  strongly  suggests  an  old  English 
arrangement,  ascends  laterally  from  the  rear  hall.  Back 
of  the  house,  a  wide  brick-paved  porch  connects  with 
another  })uilding  where  were  the  servants'  quarters  and 
sundry  offices.  This  plan  of  having  separate  buildings 
for  the  domestics  was  also  quite  characteristic  of  the 
period.  Throughout  the  house  all  the  woodwork,  though 
handsomely  wrought,  is  heavy  and  most  substantial. 
Hope  Lodge  ought  to  be  thoroughly  representative  of 
the  early  Georgian  style  for  it  was  built  in  1723  of  the 
best  materials,  fetched  in  great  part,  including  all  the 
woodwork,  from  England. 

Samuel  Morris,  the  son  of  Morris  Morris,  a  Welsh 
Quaker,  who  lived  near  Abington,  erected  Hope  Lodge 

278 


0     >   >  J     > 


a 


a 
> 
r 
r 

> 
H 

a 
o 
>a 

H 


o 


HOPE  LODGE 


to  receive  an  expected  bride,  but  notwithstanding  his 
ample  preparation  he  lived  and  died  a  bachelor.  His 
mother,  Susanna  Heath,  was  a  prominent  minister 
among  Friends  and  made  a  number  of  religious  visits 
to  England,  Ireland,  and  Holland.  It  seems  that 
Samuel  accompanied  his  mother  across  the  Atlantic  on 
one  of  these  visits  and  became  affianced  to  a  young  lady 
in  England.  Upon  the  completion  of  his  new  house  he 
gave  a  housewarming  and  entertained  his  friends  and 
neighbours  with  great  hospitality.  There  was  some  con- 
viviality, and  Samuel,  lying  upon  a  settle  in  his  cups,  re- 
marked, "  I've  got  the  pen;  all  I  want  now  is  the  sow! " 
His  betrothed  was  brought  news  of  this  indelicate  remark 
and  being  a  lady  of  spirit  promptly  broke  the  engagement. 

During  the  years  1745  to  1753,  Samuel  Morris  was 
a  justice  of  the  peace  in  Whitemarsh  and  an  overseer 
of  Plvmouth  Meetino;  so  that  he  must  have  had  contrition 
for  his  unfortunate  moment  and  lived  an  exemplary  and 
useful  life  afterward.  He  died  in  1772  and  left  his  es- 
tate to  his  brother  Joshua,  who  sold  it  in  1776  to  William 
West,  whose  executors,  in  1784,  conveyed  the  property 
to  the  life  interest  of  James  Horatio  Watmough  with 
a  reversion  to  Henry  Hope. 

Mr.  Watmough  was  Henry  Hope's  ward  and  it  was 
the  wish  of  the  latter  that  he  should  enter  the  banking 
house  and  pursue  a  career  of  financiering,  ISIr.  Wat- 
mough, however,  had  other  designs,  so  an  estrangement 
arose.  The  difference  was  afterward  happily  adjusted 
and  Henry  Hope  settled  the  Whitemarsh  estate  on  Col- 
onel Watmough  as  a  peace  offering.  In  compliment 
to  his  guardian.   Colonel  Watmough  named  the  place 

279 


(OLOMAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

Hope  Lodge.  One  of  Colonel  Watmough's  daughters 
married  Joseph  Reed,  the  son  of  General  Joseph  Reed, 
and  anotlier  married  John  Sergeant,  the  celebrated 
lawyer.  Botli  the  Reeds  and  Sergeants  as  well  as  the 
AVatinoughs  lived  at  Hope  Lodge  at  various  times. 
Tlic  property  now  belongs  to  Mr.  Wentz,  who  occupies 
the  house. 


THE  HIGHLANDS 

WHITEMARSH 

MORRIS— HITNER—SHEAFF 


f  T  the  end  of  a  shaded  drive  that 
sweeps  up  the  rise  in  a  quarter  cir- 
cle, set  amid  great  ancient  oaks  and 
pines  and  sycamores,  the  Highlands, 
from  its  lofty  position,  overlooks  the 
Whitemarsh  Valley,  doubly  rich  in 
natural  beauty  and  historical  associa- 
tions. On  the  Skippack  Pike  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from 
Whitemarsh  station  it  stands  just  where  the  road  climbs 
well  up  into  the  hills  that  form  the  valley's  northern 
boundary. 

In  1794,  Anthony  Morris,  son  of  Captain  Samuel 
Morris,  bought  the  land,  and  in  1796  finished  the  house, 
which  is  as  fine  an  example  of  late  Georgian  architecture 
as  one  is  likely  to  meet  with.  Though  not  strictly  Co- 
lonial in  point  of  date,  yet  all  the  associations  of  the 
Highlands  are  so  closely  allied  to  things  Colonial  that 
it  ought  to  be  included  among  Colonial  Homes.  The 
broad  south  front  is  built  of  carefully  cut  and  squared 
stone  and  adorned  with  fluted  Ionic  pilasters  of  lighter- 
coloured  stone  that  support  the  pediment  surmounting 
the  middle  part  of  the  cornice.  The  sides  are  of  ordi- 
nary rubble.  An  unusually  wide  hallway  through  the 
centre  of  the  house  joins  an  equally  wide  cross-hall  at 
the  back  in  which  latter  a  broad  stately  staircase  ascends 
by  two  flights  and  a  gallery  landing  to  the  second  floor. 
Above  the  landing  and  lighting  the  whole  rear  hall  is  a 

281 


(OLOXIAL    HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

beautifully  proportioned  triple  or  Palladian  window. 
The  old  Adam  mantels  with  elaborate  designs  in  stucco 
were  unfortunately  removed  many  years  ago  and  re- 
placed by  classic  black  marble  structures. 

The  chief  beauty  of  the  Highlands  lies  in  its  wonder- 
ful trees  and  in  the  old  garden  now,  alas,  all  overgrown, 
its  gieenhouses  empty,  and  its  sundial  broken.  The 
spring-house  built  at  the  same  time  as  the  mansion  is  a 
picturesque  octagonal  stone  structure  set  in  a  dell  be- 
neath a  group  of  lofty  sycamores. 

Anthony  JNIorris  was  born  in  1766  and  though  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1787,  subsequently  became  a  mer- 
chant and  engaged  extensively  in  the  East  India  trade. 
As  a  young  man  he  represented  the  city  of  Philadelphia 
in  the  State  Senate,  and  in  1793,  when  only  twenty-seven 
years  of  age,  was  chosen  speaker  to  succeed  Samuel 
Powel.  Because,  as  speaker,  he  signed  the  bill  provid- 
ing for  troops  to  suppress  the  Whiskey  Rebellion,  the 
JNIeeting  of  which  he  was  a  member  disowned  him.  He 
was  the  intimate  friend  of  Jefferson,  Monroe,  and  Madi- 
son, and  throughout  the  "  INIemoirs  and  Letters  of  Dolly 
Madison,"  who,  by  the  way,  was  a  Philadelphian  herself, 
we  find  cordial  references  to  Anthony  Morris.  During 
JMadison's  administration,  he  represented  the  United 
States  at  the  Court  of  Spain  for  nearly  two  years,  from 
1813-1815,  when  he  was  entrusted  with  the  adjustment 
of  the  boundary  dispute  in  connection  with  the  Florida 
cession.  He  was  entirely  successful  in  his  diplomatic 
mission,  which  resulted  in  a  final  settlement. 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  in  his  ninety-fifth  year,  he 

282 


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>  >  >   >    » 


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55  SI 

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THE   HIGHLANDS 


was  the  last  survivor  of  the  wedding  company  of  Presi- 
dent and  Dolly  Madison.  By  his  marriage  with  Mary 
Pemberton  in  1790  he  became  master  of  Bolton  Farm 
also.  In  1808  he  sold  the  Highlands  to  one  Hitner,  who 
in  turn  sold  the  place,  in  1813,  to  Mr.  George  SheaiF, 
the  father  of  the  present  occupant,  John  D.  T.  Sheaif . 


THE  WHITPAIN  AND  WHITEMARSH 

ENCAMPMENTS 

WHITPAIN  TOWNSHIP— WHITEMARSH  VALLEY 

DAWESFIELD  EMLEN  HOUSE 

MORRIS— LEWIS  EMLEN 


^^;:9  HE  period  immediately  following 
^'^  the  Battle  of  Germantown  was 
one  of  the  most  critical  that  Wash- 
ington and  his  army  had  to  face  in 
the  whole  course  of  the  Revolution- 
ary struggle.  While  at  times  there 
were  encouraging  tidings  to  cheer 
them,  there  was  also  much  to  dishearten  and  perplex.  On 
the  one  hand,  there  were  the  notable  successes  of  the 
Northern  Army  and  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne,  there  was 
a  victory  at  Red  Bank  and  there  were  reinforcements  sent 
in  from  a  distance;  on  the  other,  there  were  desertions, 
the  British  were  gradually  tightening  their  hold  on  Phila- 
delphia and,  worst  of  all,  there  was  indifference  and  lack 
of  supj)ort  on  the  part  of  the  people  in  the  very  State 
where  all  these  things  were  taking  place. 

On  October  17,  1777,  Washington  wTites  to  Thomas 
AV^harton: 

It  is  a  matter  of  astonishment  to  every  part  of  the  conti- 
nent to  liear  that  Pennsylvania,  the  most  opulent  and  populous 
of  all  the  States,  has  but  1200  militia  in  the  field  at  a  time  when 
the  enemy  are  endeavouring  to  make  themselves  completely  mas- 
ters of,  and  to  fix  their  winter  quarters  in,  her  capital. 

Again,  on  October  29,  in  writing  to  Landon  Carter, 
he  says: 

284 


WHITPAIN  AND  WHITEMARSH 

The  Northern  Army,  before  the  surrender  of  General  Bur- 
goyne,  was  reinforced  by  upwards  of  1200  Militia  who  shut  the 
only  door  by  which  Burgoyne  could  Retreat  and  cut  off  all  his 
supplies.  How  different  our  case !  the  disaffection  of  a  greater 
part  of  the  Inhabitants  of  this  State — the  languor  of  others  & 
and  internal  distraction  of  the  whole,  have  been  among  the  great 
and  insuperable  difficulties  I  have  met  with,  and  have  contributed 
not  a  little  to  my  embarrassments  this  Campaign. 

Only  a  few  days  before  this  a  committee  of  *'  weighty 
Friends  "  had  waited  upon  Washington  to  express  the 
Society's  utter  disapproval  of  warfare  and  offer  protest 
against  hostilities  past  or  future. 

After  the  Battle  of  Germantown,  on  October  4,  the 
army  retreated  to  the  Perkiomen  region,  where  it  re- 
mained till  the  eighth,  moving  thence  to  Towamencin  and 
Worcester,  and  on  the  twenty-first  to  Whitpain  Town- 
ship, where  the  Commander-in-Chief  fixed  his  headquar- 
ters at  James  Morris's  house,  Dawesfield,  between  the 
Skippack  and  Morris  Roads  and  about  one  mile  west  of 
Ambler.  It  was  from  Dawesfield  that  Washington 
^VTote  the  letter  to  Landon  Carter  deploring  the  luke- 
warm attitude  that  confronted  him;  it  was  at  Dawesfield 
that  he  received  much  of  the  depressing  intelligence  that 
cast  a  gloom  over  these  days;  there,  under  the  presidency 
of  General  Sullivan,  was  held  the  court  martial  that  not 
only  acquitted  General  Wayne  of  the  blame  that  had 
been  laid  to  him  for  the  Paoli  massacre,  but  paid  signal 
honour  to  his  bravery;  there  also,  on  October  29,  was  held 
a  council  of  war  to  determine  future  movements  at  which 
were  present  his  Excellency,  the  Commander-in-Chief, 
Major-Generals  Sullivan,  Greene,  Stephen,  McDougall, 

285 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


the  ^Iar(|iiis  de  Lafayette,  Brigadier-Generals  Maxwell, 
Knox,  \'arnuni,  AV^ayne,  Muhlenburg,  Weedon,  Hunt- 
ingdon, Conway,  and  Count  Pulaski.  To  make  matters 
worse,  tliere  was  a  cold  autumn  rain  falling  most  of  the 
time  the  army  lay  at  Whitpain,  causing  added  distress 
to  the  ill-equipped  soldiers.  All  the  trees  at  Dawesfield 
were  cut  down  for  firewood  except  those  immediately 
around  the  Iiouse. 

Set  beneath  magnificent  ov^erarcliing  trees,  Dawes- 
field now  displays  toward  the  west,  a  long,  low,  two-storey 
front  of  grey  field  stone,  with  white-painted  woodwork. 
In  the  middle  of  the  west  front  rises  a  gable  pierced  by 
two  small  half-circle  windows.  Before  the  south  wing 
was  added  at  a  later  date,  this  gable  was  at  the  western 
end  of  the  original  structure  of  1736  which  faced  toward 
the  south.  During  Washington's  occupancy  a  small 
room  in  what  is  now  the  northern  wing  was  his  office  and 
it  was  there  that  both  the  court  martial  and  the  council 
of  war  were  held.  Washington  slept  in  the  second  storey 
of  the  then  western  wing,  the  bed  and  bedstead  upon 
which  he  rested  being  still  in  use,  while  Lafayette  occu- 
pied the  room  directly  beneath  on  the  ground  floor,  as  he 
was  unable  to  mount  stairs  owing  to  a  wound  of  the  knee 
received  at  the  Battle  of  Brandj^vine.  The  old  milk- 
house  on  the  property  has  loopholes  in  its  walls  so  ar- 
ranged that  the  muskets  of  those  within  could  command 
the  road  in  both  directions. 

On  November  2,  the  armv  moved  to  Whitemarsh 
and  Washington  made  the  Emlen  House  (about  half  a 
mile  east  of  the  present  Camp  Hill  station  on  the  North 
Penn  railroad)   his  headquarters.     This  house  was  built 

286 


WHITPAIN  AND  WHITEMARSH 

about  1720  and  is  a  roomy  structure  with  a  frontage  of 
eighty  feet  and  a  depth  of  twenty-seven  feet.  Unfortu- 
nately, it  was  modernised  in  1854,  and  a  large  western 
wing,  originally  the  dining-hall,  was  demolished.  At  the 
time  of  the  Revolution  "  it  was  a  sort  of  baronial  hall  in 
size  and  character  "  where  its  wealthy  merchant  owner, 
George  Emlen,  "  dispensed  hospitality  to  all  who  came 
under  its  roof."  George  Emlen's  town  house  was  at 
Fifth  and  Chestnut  Streets  opposite  the  State  House. 

In  the  "  baronial  hall  "  at  Whitemarsh  we  can  fancy 
Washington  dining  each  afternoon  in  company  with  his 
staff  after  that  apologetic  invitation  noted  in  the  orderly 
book  under  November  7,  which  reads: 

Since  the  General  left  GermantoAvn  [Schuylkill  Falls]  in  the 
middle  of  September  last,  he  has  been  without  his  baggage,  and 
on  that  account  is  unable  to  receive  company  in  the  manner  he 
could  wish.  He  nevertheless  desires  the  Generals,  Field  Officers, 
and  Brigade-Major  of  the  day  to  dine  with  him  in  the  future, 
at   three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

This  baggageless  plight  must  have  been  most  morti- 
fying to  Washington,  for  he  was  a  great  stickler  for  pro- 
priety of  clothing. 

It  was  while  the  army  lay  at  Whitemarsh  that  Lydia 
Darrach's  warning  of  Howe's  intended  attack  was  given. 
During  this  dreary  time  that  "  tried  men's  souls,"  there 
was  little  cause  for  any  rejoicing  such  as  had  prompted 
Washington  after  the  victory  of  the  Northern  Army  at 
Stillwater  to  order,  as  he  had  on  Sunday,  September  28, 
by  way  of  celebration,  that  "all  the  troops  be  paraded  and 
served  with  a  gill  of  rum  per  man,  and  that  at  the  same 

287 


(()L()\IA1>    IIOMKS   OF   PIIILADELPIIIA 


time  there  be  discharged  13  pieces  of  artillery  from  the 
park."  On  the  contrary  the  outlook  was  daily  becoming 
more  gloomy  and  supplies  were  increasingly  hard  to  get. 
Shoes  were  failing  and  on  November  22,  there  is  a  note 
in  tlie  orderly  book  that  "  The  Commander-in-Chief  offers 
a  reward  of  ten  dollars  to  any  person,  who  shall  by  nine 
o'clock  on  Monday  morning  produce  the  best  substitute 
for  shoes  made  of  rawhides."  In  these  weeks  that  pre- 
ceded the  dreadful  winter  that  was  to  follow  at  Valley 
Forge,  the  shortage  of  clothing  was  becoming  acute  and 
even  as  the  soldiers  retreated  up  the  Skippack  Pike  on 
their  way  thither  from  Whitemarsh,  Washington  wrote 
that  the  road  was  stained  "  by  the  blood  from  the  feet 
of  the  men  in  the  snow." 

Closing  our  eyes  to  all  these  horrors  of  long  ago,  we 
can  see  Dawesfield  as  it  is  to-day,  in  an  excellent  state 
of  preservation.  The  estate  now  belongs  to  Saunders 
I..ewis,  a  descendant  of  the  first  owner,  James  Morris. 
The  Emlen  House  is  owned  by  Antelo  Devereaux. 


PENNYPACKER'S  MILLS 

PERKIOMEN  TOWNSHIP.  MONTGOMERY 
HEIJT— PAWLING— PENNYPACKER 


HE  natural  beauty  of  Philadelphia 
is  much  enhanced  by  its  situation 
between  two  such  rivers  as  the 
Delaware  and  Schuylkill.  Into 
these  flow  many  streams  from  the 
surrounding  country  which  gave 
comfort  and  joy  to  the  early  set- 
tler. Where  the  two  branches  of  the  Perkiomen  meet 
and  directly  within  their  forks  are  the  mansion  and  mills 
famous  in  American  Colonial  history  which  have  been 
known  since  1747  as  Pennypacker's  Mills. 

The  Philadelphia  &  Reading  Railway  has  entered  the 
lovely  valley  and  the  town  which  has  sprung  up  is  called 
Schwenkville.  Passing  through  several  hands  from  the 
grant  of  William  Penn,  the  land  in  the  forks  came  in 
1718  to  Hans  Joest  Heijt,  a  yeoman  and  weaver  of  Ger- 
mantown.  He  was  the  first  occupant  and  built  a  grist- 
mill upon  the  east  bank  of  the  Perkiomen  and  a  house 
on  the  south  side  of  the  hill  where  about  fourteen  acres 
of  meadow  slope  gracefully  down  to  the  stream.  This 
was  about  1720,  and  we  hear  of  him  again  in  a  petition 
to  the  Governour,  Patrick  Gordon,  in  1728,  for  relief 
from  the  Indians,  and  again  in  1730,  when  he  sold  his 
land  to  his  neighbour,  John  Pawling,  and  soon  after  took 
his  family  to  the  Shenandoah  Valley  in  Virginia.  Here, 
with  some  others,  he  took  up  one  hundred  and  forty  thou- 
sand acres  and  carried  on  a  lawsuit  with  Lord  Fairfax, 
which  was  decided  in  his  favour  after  his  death. 


19 


389 


COLONIAL    HOMES   OF   IMIILADKLPIILV 


The  next  owner  of  the  Perkiomen  tract,  John  Paw- 
ling, was  an  influential  settler  from  Ulster  County,  New 
York.  His  oMnersliip  w^as  brief  and  uneventful.  In 
three  years  he  was  dead,  and  after  fourteen  years  the 
estate  was  gathered  together  from  his  descendants 
by  Peter  Pennypacker,  the  second  son  of  Hendrick 
Pannebecker,  a  surveyor  of  lands  for  the  Penns,  living  in 
Gerniantown. 

Peter  was  born  on  the  Skippack  Creek  in  1710,  and 
married,  in  1733,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Peter  Dirck 
Keyser  and  his  wife  ]\Iargaret,  of  Germantown.  He  soon 
made  his  mills  on  the  Perkiomen  a  centre  for  the  Colon- 
ists.    October  1,  1755,  he  advertised: 

Peter  Pennebacker  in  Skippack  makes  known  that  he  has  built 
a  fulling  mill  at  which  there  is  a  skillful  fuller  named  William 
Nenny.  Whoever  need  to  have  anything  dyed  or  fulled  can  be 
served  at  the  customary  price  by  William  Nenney. 

From  a  scrap  of  an  account  book  in  his  handwriting 
in  1755,  he  charges  some  of  the  neighboin's  w^th  sugar, 
tea,  coffee,  and  molasses  as  well  as  with  rye,  hay,  and 
oats,  so  that  it  is  inferred  that  he  also  added  a  store  to 
furnish  local  supplies.  Elizabeth  Drinker  tells  in  her 
Journal  how,  on  the  way  from  Ephrata,  August  28,  1771, 
she  "  dined  in  a  ^lill  House  at  Peter  Pennybaker's  on 
boiled  mutton  and  old  kidney  beans  "  and  that  she  "  eat 
very  heartily." 

In  1754  Peter  Pennypacker  was  elected  assessor  of 
Philadelphia  County,  and  in  the  same  year  joined  in  an 
event  which  affected  the  future  of  the  continent.  The 
French  and  Indian  AVar  led  to  much  speculation  as  to 

290 


PENNYPACKER'S  MILLS 


whether  the  Germans  would  throw  their  influence  with 
the  French  or  the  English,  and  upon  the  determination 
of  this  rested  the  future  of  the  land.  A  number  of  the 
most  representative  Germans,  including  Peter  Penny- 
packer,  of  Pennypacker's  Mills,  presented  a  formal  ad- 
dress of  welcome  and  loyalty  to  the  recently  appointed 
Governour,  Robert  Hunter  Morris,  and  thus  decided  the 
matter  in  favour  of  the  English. 

It  was  signed  "  in  Behalf  of  Ourselves  and  Country 
Men." 

During  the  war  which  ensued  a  portion  of  Braddock's 
Army  marched  to  Pennypacker's  INIills  en  route  to  join 
the  main  body  which  had  come  up  through  Virginia  and 
Maryland. 

On  June  28,  Peter  Pennypacker  died  and  was  buried 
in  the  Mennonite  graveyard  on  the  Skippack.  He  left  a 
very  long  will  and  a  very  long  inventory  followed  his 
demise.  His  son  William  received  the  lands  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Perkiomen  where  Schwenksville  now  stands 
and  his  son  Samuel  received  the  lands  and  mansion  on 
the  east  side.  Samuel  was  born  on  the  Skippack  in  IT-iG 
and  came  to  the  Mills  when  but  a  year  old,  there  to  spend 
the  rest  of  his  life.  He  attended  the  school  of  H.  M. 
Ache,  who  prepared  a  fine  bit  of  penwork  for  him  in 
1758,  containing  a  prayer,  the  alphabet  in  three  forms,  the 
numerals  up  to  one  hundred,  the  names  of  the  months, 
the  date,  and  the  inscription. 

In  1768,  Samuel  Pennypacker  married  Hannah  Ges- 
bert,  and  there  were  born  to  them  a  family  of  eiglit  boys. 

After  the  Battle  of  the  Brandywine  and  the  unsuc- 
cessful  attempt   to   engage   at   Warren    Tavern    in    the 

291 


( OI.OMAL    IIOMKS   OF    IMIILADELPIIIA 


Chester  ^'alley,  General  Washington  moved  his  army 
of  eiiiht  thousand  Continentals  and  two  thousand  militia 
to  the  head  of  the  Skippack  Road  at  Pennypacker's  INlills 
and  fixed  his  headquarters  in  the  house  of  Samuel  Penny- 
packer.  ^\''ashington  wrote  many  letters  from  the  house, 
several  of  which  are  now  resting  in  the  room  in  which 
they  were  wTitten.  There  were  poets  with  the  army, 
too,  and  one  of  the  products  of  their  pens  is  a  ballad  de- 
picting events  lively  and  not  improbable: 

'Twas    night — rain    poured — when    British    blades 

In  number  twelve  or  more, 

As  they  sat  tippling  apple  jack 

Heard  someone  at  the  door. 

"  Arise,''  he  cried — 'twas  Skerret  spoke — 
"  And  trudge  or  will  or  nill, 

Twelve  miles  to  General  Washington 

At  Pennypacker's   Mill." 

Deep  in  their  pots  were  they,  these  blades, 
One  sprawling  on  the  floor. 
One  hiccoughing  "  The  King,  his  health  " 
And  all  gone  half  seas  o'er. 

"  Oh  what  a  sight  " — 'twas  Skerret  spoke — 
"  For  General  Washington  : 

A  lot  of  British  prisoners. 

Drunk  every  mother's  son." 

And  apple-jack  tliat  tipple  base, 
Why  did  these  heroes  drain.'' 
Oh  where  were  nobler  taps  that  night, 
Port,   sherry   and   champagne? 

292 


PENNYPACKER'S  MILLS 


"  Arise  "  he  cried — 'twas  Skerret  spoke — 
"  And  trudge  or  will  or  nill 

Twelve  miles  to  General  Washington, 

At  Pennypacker's  mill." 

So  up  they  got  or  will  or  nill, 
Each    noble   British    son, 
And  on  they  went,  by  Skerret  led, 
To  General  Washington. 

It   rained.     The  red  coats   on   their  backs. 
Their   skins   did  purple  blue: 
The  powder  on  their  heads  grew  paste, 
Each  toe  its  boot  wore  through. 

Their  lace  was    sop,   their   feathers   too 
Hung  down  like  chickens'  tails, 
Down  hung  their  heads,  while  every  knave 
His  luckless  fate  bewails. 

"  Who  brought  them  in,"  said  Washington, 

"  Through  such  an  awful  rain?  " 
Then  Skerret  answered  to  the  call 
And  said :  "  I  don't  complain 


a 


a 


I  don't  complain  that  through  the  rain 
I  brought  these  roysterers  high. 
But  only  say,  though  very  wet, 
I  never  was  more  dry. 

Nor-  port  nor  sherry  had  these  lords. 
Lord  knows   the  reason  why; 
And  not  a  drop  of  apple-jack 
They  left  for  us  to  try." 

298 


COLONIAL    IIOMKS   OF    PHILADELPHIA 

'*  JSkfiTct,   iiiv   l;id,''  said  Washington, 
"  It  pleases  me  to  say 

That  thou  hast  well  shut  in  these  blades, 

And  dry   thou   shalt  not  stay. 

*'  Skerret,  my  lad,  tiiou  art  a  trump, 
The  ace  of  all  the  pack; 
Come    into    Pennypacker's    Mill 
And  share  my  apple-jack." 

Lieutenant  James  McMichael  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Line  also  had  a  fancy  for  verse  and  with  his  jovial  tem- 
perament gave  colour  to  the  camp. 

Colonel  John  Parke,  of  Delaware,  while  resting  here 
wrote  a  solemn  and  serious  elegy,  and  these  with  the 
many  letters  of  Washington  written  in  the  camp  form 
one  of  the  most  important  and  interesting  collections  of 
contemporary  Hterature  attached  to  any  house  in  this 
country. 

When  the  news  of  the  defeat  of  General  Burgoyne 
at  Bemis  Heights,  New  York,  came  to  Pennypacker's 
Mills  it  gave  great  joy  to  the  occupant  of  the  house  and 
his  army.  The  latter  were  drawn  up  on  parade  just 
at  the  side  of  the  house  on  the  roll  of  ground,  and  the 
park  of  artillery  fired  a  salute  of  thirteen  gims.  To  every 
man  was  given  a  gill  of  rum  and  they  gave  vent  to  their 
enthusiasm  with  three  hearty  cheers. 

Perhaps  under  the  inspiration  of  the  news,  a  council 
of  war  was  called  to  determine  whether  another  attack 
should  he  made.  Washington  told  his  officers  that  the 
army  consisted  of  about  eight  thousand  Continentals  and 
tliree    thousand    militia     and    submitted     the    question 

294 


PENNYPACKER'S  MILLS 


whether  or  not  to  attack  the  enemy  at  once.  Wayne, 
Smallwood,  Potter,  Irvine,  and  Scott  were  in  favour  of 
a  bold  measure.  Stephen,  Nash,  McDougal,  Sullivan, 
Knox,  Greene,  Muhlenberg,  Sterling,  Conway,  and 
Armstrong,  were  opposed.  Cadwalader  and  Reed  did 
not  vote.  A  compromise  was  decided  upon  in  determin- 
ing to  approach  the  enemy  and  seek  an  opportunity  to 
strike  a  blow.  This  led  to  the  Battle  of  Germantown. 
After  the  battle  McMichael  writes: 

We  then  marched  up  the  Skippack  Road  to  Pennypacker's 
Mill,  where  we  betook  ourselves  to  rest  at  9  p.m.  Thus  hap- 
pened the  memorable  event  of  the  battle  of  Germantown,  in  which 
great  numbers  were  killed  on  both  sides  and  which  lasted  from  5 
until  10  o'clock.  That  of  Brandywine  was  not  in  any  measure 
such  a  general  attack,  neither  was  the  loss  at  that  place  anyway 
equivalent.  I  had  previously  undergone  many  fatigues  but  never 
any  that  so  much  overdone  me  as  this.  Had  it  not  been  for  the 
fear  of  being  taken  prisoner,  I  should  have  remained  on  the  road 
all  night.  I  had  marched  in  twenty  four  hours  forty  five  miles, 
and  in  that  time  fought  four  hours,  during  wliich  we  advanced 
so  furiously  through  buckwheat  fields  that  it  was  almost  an  un- 
speakable   fatigue. 

There  is  a  touch  of  considerate  courtesy  on  the  part 
of  the  Commander-in-Chief  in  the  incident  related  by  the 
Chevalier  de  Pontgibaud,  who  was  with  the  army: 

We  for  our  part  might  almost  have  forgotten  that  we  were  in 
the  presence  of  an  enemy  if  we  had  not  received  a  chance  visitor. 
We  were  at  table  at  headquarters,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  Mill  wliicli 
was  comfortable  enough,  one  day,  when  a  fine  sporting  dog,  which 
was  evidently  lost,  came  to  ask  for  some  dinner.     On  its  collar 

i95 


( OLOXIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

were  the  words  "  General  Howe."  It  was  the  British  Comman- 
der's dog.  It  was  sent  back  under  a  flag  of  truce,  and  General 
Howe  replied  by  a  warm  letter  of  thanks  to  this  act  of  courtesy 
on  the  part  of  his  enemy,  our  General. 

And  so  on  October  8,  Washington  wrote  to  the  Presi- 
dent of  Congress  his  last  letter  in  the  house  of  Samuel 
Pennypacker.  Taking  dowTi  his  great  Bible  with  its 
brass  clasps,  Samuel  wrote  in  it  in  German: 

On  the  26th.  day  of  September,  1777,  an  army  of  thirty 
thousand  men  encamped  in  Skippack  Township,  burned  all  the 
fences,  carried  away  all  the  fodder,  hay,  oats  and  wheat,  and 
took  their  departure  the  8th.  day  of  October,  1777.  Written 
for  those  who  come  after  me,  by 

Samuel  Pennypacker. 

The  death  of  Samuel  Pennypacker  occurred  Febru- 
ary 23,  1826,  in  his  eightieth  year.  His  son  Samuel  suc- 
ceeded him  and  spent  his  long  life  of  eighty-four  years 
upon  the  place.  In  1802  he  married  Catharine  Wire- 
man,  and  their  daughter  Anna  married  John  R.  Det- 
wiler  who  took  the  estate  at  the  valuation  put  upon  it  by 
seven  neighbours.  Anna  Detwiler's  daughter  Catharine 
married  Josiah  E.  Hunsicker  and  lived  in  the  old  home- 
stead until  1900.  On  October  4,  1877,  the  one  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Germantown,  fifteen  hun- 
dred of  the  descendants  of  Henry  Pennebecker  assem- 
])led  at  the  house  in  a  great  family  reunion  when  addresses 
were  made  by  many  famous  members.  Returning  to 
Philadelphia  afterward,  the  train  filled  with  people  from 
the  celebration  plunged  into  a  washout  and  the  reunion 
closed  amid  a  scene  of  tragic  disaster.     Following  came 

296 


PENNYPACKER'S  MILLS 


pilgrimages  of  the  Montgomery  County  Historical  So- 
ciety on  September  16,  1896,  the  Pennsylvania  Society, 
Sons  of  the  Revolution,  June  17,  1899. 

In  the  year  1900,  one  hundred  and  forty-four  acres 
of  the  original  tract  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Hon- 
ourable Samuel  W.  Pennypacker.  An  addition  has  been 
built  to  the  northward  but  the  original  appearance  has 
been  preserved  as  well  as  many  of  the  features  within. 
Furniture,  household,  and  farm  implements  from  the  early 
settlement  abound,  and  the  place  is  a  veritable  museum 
showing  the  life  of  the  people  through  many  generations. 

This  is  the  story  of  Pennypacker's  Mills,  the  only 
headquarters  of  General  Washington  remaining  in  the 
name  of  the  family  which  owned  it  at  the  time  of  his 
occupancy.  Important  and  interesting  events  have  fol- 
lowed one  another  since  the  seating  of  Peter  Pennypacker 
in  1747.  The  present  owner  was  Governour  of  the  Com- 
monwealth of  Pennsylvania,  from  1903  to  1907. 


GRAEME  PARK 

HOHSHAM,  MONTGOMERY 

KKITH— GRAEME— FERGUSSON— SMITH— PENROSE 


XSEPARABLE  from  the  verv  at- 
niosphere  of  every  old  house  is  a 
pathos  which  every  person  feels 
whether  they  be  fullv  conscious  of  it 
or  not.  It  is  the  pathos  of  the  gen- 
erations of  human  lives  lived  therein. 
It  is  a  sense  of  the  human  tragedies 
and  comedies  that  have  there  been  enacted  in  the  continu- 
ous drama  of  existence,  the  tragic  side,  perhaps,  being  the 
more  apparent.  The  sum  total  of  all  the  follies  and  frail- 
ties of  the  men  and  women  who  have  dwelt  within  its 
walls,  their  graces  and  virtues,  their  joys  and  sorrows, 
their  loves  and  hates — all  these  we  grasp  by  a  kind  of  in- 
tuitive perception. 

Of  no  old  house  can  this  be  said  more  truly  than 
of  Graeme  Park.  Its  successive  owners  have  had  careers 
of  unusual  dramatic  interest.  Sir  William  Keith,  the 
scion  of  an  ancient  Scottish  family,  by  a  freak  of  for- 
tune became  Governour  of  Penn's  Colony  in  1717,  his 
personality  and  conduct  having  strongly  commended 
liim  to  those  who  controlled  affairs.  His  geniality  and 
generally  amiable  qualities  of  character  made  him  at 
once  i)()puhir  with  the  people  and  always  kept  him  so. 
At  first  he  was  acceptable  to  the  Proprietaries,  but  his 
sympathies  falling  naturally  with  the  people  and,  in  time, 
!)eing  arrayed  against  the  Proprietary  interests,  he  was 
superseded  by  Governour  Patrick  Gordon,  in  1726. 
In  1718  Sir  William  Keith  bought  a  tract  of  twelve 

298 


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GRAEME   PARK 


hundred  acres  in  Horsham  Township,  Philadelphia,  after- 
ward Montgomery  County,  at  a  spot  about  one  mile  north- 
west from  the  present  Doylestown  and  Willow  Grove 
Pike,  some  nineteen  miles  from  Philadelphia,  a  place  then 
looked  upon  as  the  outermost  edge  of  civilisation.  The 
Doylestown  Pike  was  built  expressly  for  his  convenience. 
The  land  was  mostly  in  timber  and  the  nearest  approach 
hitherto  had  been  by  Old  York  Road,  which  had  been 
surveyed  in  1711. 

Sir  William  began  to  build  in  1721  and,  it  seems, 
finished  his  house  in  1722,  as  the  old  weather-vane  of 
wrought-iron  bears  that  date  cut  in  stencil  after  the  ini- 
tials W.  K.  The  house  is  over  sixty  feet  long,  twenty- 
five  feet  wide,  and  is  three  storeys  in  height.  The  walls 
are  of  rich  brown  field  stone  carefully  laid  and  fitted,  and 
are  more  than  two  feet  thick,  while  over  the  doors  and 
windows,  whose  dimensions  are  thoroughly  characteristic 
of  the  date  of  erection,  selected  stones  were  laid  in  flat- 
tened arches.  At  the  north  end  of  the  building  is  a  great 
hall  or  drawing-room,  twenty-one  feet  square,  with  walls 
wainscotted  and  panelled  from  floor  to  ceiling,  a  height 
of  fourteen  feet.  The  fireplace  in  the  hall  is  faced  ^vith 
marble  brought  from  abroad,  while  in  the  other  rooms 
Dutch  tiles  were  used  for  the  same  purpose.  On  each 
floor  are  three  rooms.  Stairs  and  banisters  are  of  heavy 
white  oak  and  all  the  other  woodwork  is  of  unusual  beauty 
executed  in  a  simple  and  vigorous  design. 

Quarters  for  the  servants  and  various  domestic  offices 
were  in  separate  buildings,  that  have  now  disappeared, 
leaving  the  whole  of  the  hall  for  the  use  of  its  occupants. 
Lofty  sentinel  sycamores  in  front  of  the  mansion  indi- 

209 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

cate  wliat  was  once  the  entrance  to  the  courtyard  or  fore- 
court. All  around  are  ancient  trees,  many  of  them 
(louhtless  survivors  from  the  primeval  forest.  Not  far 
away  is  the  great  "  lifting  stone,"  a  mushroom-shaped 
boulder  with  which  Sir  William  always  tested  the  strength 
of  an  applicant  for  work.  If  he  could  not  lift  it — and 
it  is  of  substantial  weight — he  was  not  employed. 

After  Sir  William  was  deposed  from  his  governour- 
ship,  he  retired  to  his  Horsham  plantation  and  spent 
nearly  all  his  time  there.  Here  he  lived  in  a  state  becom- 
ing his  quality,  maintaining  a  style  hitherto  unknown  in 
Philadelphia  and  more  resembling  the  manorial  regime 
of  some  of  the  wealthier  southern  plantations,  where  Sir 
William  had  been  on  his  first  arrival  in  America.  When 
he  drove  to  Philadelphia,  he  made  the  journey  with  his 
coach-and-four  with  outriders  in  truly  regal  fashion. 

Although  a  Scotch  Presbyterian,  Sir  William  was  a 
constant  attendant  at  Christ  Church,  when  in  the  city, 
and  showed  an  active  and  substantial  interest  in  its  work 
and  support.  An  item  in  the  old  vestry  records  of  Feb- 
ruary 3,  1718,  says: 

Colonel  Keith  has  been  pleased,  at  a  considerable  charge,  not 
only  to  erect  a  spacious  pew  right  before  the  altar,  to  be  appro- 
priated in  all  time  to  come  for  the  conveniency  and  use  of  the 
Governour  and  his  family  for  the  time  being,  but  also  to  promise 
and  voluntarily  agree  to  pay  the  yearl3^  rent  of  £5  per  annum  for 
the  same,  to  the  use  of  the  church. 

In  keeping  up  his  establishment,  lavish  entertaining, 
and  bounty  to  the  poor,  he  spent  all  his  income  and  much 
more  besides.     Governour  Spottswood,  of  Virginia,  ac- 

300 


1   J         »  1       >  3  1 


GRAEME   PARK 


curately  characterised  Keith  when  he  said  "  that  he  was 
of  an  honourable  family,  a  baronet,  good-natured  and 
obliging,  and  spends,  with  a  reputation  to  the  place,  all 
he  gets  of  the  country."  An  inventory  of  Sir  William's 
household  effects  and  chattels  from  his  plantation  at 
Horsham  will  give  some  notion  of  the  luxury  that  pre- 
vailed there: 

a  silver  punchbowl,  ladle  and  strainer,  4  salvers,  3  casters,  and 
33  spoons,  70  large  pewter  plates,  14  smaller  plates,  6  basins,  6 
brass  pots  with  covers ;  china  ware ;  13  different  sizes  of  bowls,  6 
complete  tea  sets,  2  dozen  chocolate  cups,  20  dishes  of  various 
sizes,  4  dozen  plates,  6  mugs,  1  dozen  fine  coffee  cups 
delft,  stone  and  glass  ware:  18  jars,  12  venison  pots,  6  white 
stone  tea  sets,  12  mugs,  6  dozen  plates  and  12  fine  wine  decan- 
ters ...  24  Holland  sheets,  20  common  sheets,  50  table 
cloths,  12  dozen  napkins,  60  bedsteads,  144  chairs,  32  tables,  3 
clocks,  15  looking-glasses,  10  dozen  knives  and  forks  ...  4 
coach  horses,  7  saddle  horses,  6  working  horses,  2  mares  and  one 
colt;  4  oxen,  15  cows,  4  bulls,  6  calves,  31  sheep  and  20  hogs. 
A  large  glass  coach,  2  chaises,  2  waggons,  1  wain. 

Besides  these  there  were  also  quantities  of  plate  and 
furniture  too  great  to  mention  specifically. 

His  household  consisted  of  his  wife.  Lady  Ann  Keith, 
his  step-daughter,  Ann  Diggs,  his  four  sons,  his  cousin. 
Doctor  Thomas  Graeme,  who  afterward  married  Ann 
Diggs,  and  fourteen  slaves.  Unlike  Sir  William,  Graeme 
seems  to  have  been  able  to  hold  on  to  money  and  yet  live 
as  became  his  rank. 

In  1727  Sir  William  went  back  to  England  on  per- 
sonal concerns,  and  it  is  conjectured  that  he  was  tempted 
thither  by  an  offer  of  preferment  on  the  part  of  the  Pro- 

301 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PIIILADELPHL^ 

prietaries,  wlio  feared  his  influence  and  popularity  in  the 
Colony.  lie  served  as  a  member  of  Parliament  for 
Aberdeen,  and  in  1738  published  a  "  History  of  Vir- 
ginia "  at  London.  At  this  time  his  financial  troubles 
had  increased  and  he  was  imprisoned  in  the  Old  Bailey 
for  debt.  Although  released  for  a  season,  he  ultimately 
died  there  in  1749.  Benjamin  Franklin  said  of* 
this  generous,  talented,  amiable,  but  most  unfortunate 
gentleman : 

differing  from  the  great  body  of  the  people  whom  he  governed 
in  religion  and  manners,  he  acquired  their  esteem  and  confidence. 
If  he  sought  popularity,  he  promoted  public  happiness,  and  his 
courage  in  resisting  the  demands  of  the  Proprietaries  may  be 
ascribed  to  a  higher  motive  than  private  interest. 

Before  leaving  America  Sir  William  deeded  his  es- 
tate to  his  wife,  Lady  Ann,  and  mortgaged  all  his  house- 
hold goods  to  his  kinsman  and  son-in-law,  Doctor  Graeme. 
Lady  Keith  conveyed  her  entire  interest  in  the  Horsham 
plantation  to  her  son-in-law.  Doctor  Graeme,  in  1737,  so 
that  he  then  became  the  sole  owner.  Until  her  death, 
however.  Lady  Ann  continued  to  live  with  her  daughter 
and  Doctor  Graeme. 

The  second  master  of  Graeme  Park,  in  addition  to 
having  a  large  and  lucrative  practice,  held  many  impor- 
tant official  positions.  He  was  appointed  to  the  Naval 
Office  in  1719,  in  1726  became  a  member  of  the  Council, 
in  1731  he  was  made  one  of  the  three  justices  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  in  1732  a  "  Justice  of  Oyer  and  Terminer 
and  General  Gaol  Delivery  for  Philadelphia,  Bucks,  and 

302 


J  >     >     >    »       >     J 


PARLOUR    AT    GRAEME    PARK 


GREAT    CHAMBER   ON    SECOND    FLOOR    AT    GRAEME    I'AKK 


GRAEME  PARK 


Chester  Counties,"  and  besides  these,  many  other  posts 
of  honour  or  responsibilitj\ 

At  first  Doctor  Graeme  lived  at  Graeme  Park  only 
in  summer,  but  toward  the  end  of  his  life  spent  most  of 
his  time  there.  He  did  much  to  improve  the  estate  and 
enclosed  a  park  of  three  hundred  acres,  double-ditched 
and  double-hedged,  which,  said  he,  in  a  letter  to  his  in- 
timate friend,  Thomas  Penn,  "  as  a  piece  of  beauty  and 
ornament  to  a  dwelling  I  dare  venture  to  say  that  no 
nobleman  in  England  but  would  be  proud  to  have  it  on 
his  seat." 

Sadness  and  ill-health  clouded  Doctor  Graeme's  de- 
clining years.  The  death  of  his  wife  in  1765  was  a  blow 
from  which  he  never  fully  recovered.  She  was  a  woman 
of  remarkable  accomplishments  and  of  great  personal 
charm,  and  as  long  as  she  lived  all  the  eminent  people 
of  her  day  found  Graeme  Park  a  most  hospitable  arwl 
delightful  place  to  visit.  Among  the  famous  men  who 
were  frequent  guests  there  may  be  mentioned  Elias 
Boudinot,  Francis  Hopkinson,  Richard  Stockton,  Doc- 
tor Benjamin  Rush,  George  Meade,  Benjamin  Franklin, 
Thomas  Penn,  Andrew  Hamilton,  Reverend  Richard 
Peters,  Bishop  White,  Reverend  Jacob  Duche,  and  John 
Penn.  Besides  these,  many  distinguished  visitors  from 
abroad  stayed  there  from  time  to  time. 

Elizabeth  Graeme,  Doctor  Graeme's  favourite  daugh- 
ter, a  woman  of  brilliant  parts,  had  become  an  invalid 
and  had  gone  abroad  to  visit  her  kinsfolk  in  hope  that 
the  change  might  restore  her  health.  She  received  marked 
attention  from  many  titled  admirers,  was  presented  to 
King  George  III  and  "  particularly  noticed  by  him," 

303 


(OLOMAL   IIO-MKS   OF   rilJLADELPIIIA 

and  was  **  sought  by  the  most  celebrated  literary  gentle- 
men who  flourished  in  England  at  the  time."  After  her 
return  home  she  managed  her  father's  household.  It 
was  then  that  she  met  Henry  Hugh  Fergusson,  a  man 
much  younger  than  herself,  to  whom  she  was  afterward 
clandestinely  married  at  Old  Swedes  Church.  When  she 
was  about  to  break  the  news  of  this  match  to  her  father 
at  Graeme  Park  and  was  waiting  at  the  window  as  he 
came  up  the  avenue  from  his  walk  before  breakfast,  the 
old  doctor  fell  and  died  suddenly. 

Mrs.  Fergusson  made  over  a  large  part  of  her  for- 
tune to  her  husband  who,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, deserted  her  and  took  refuge  under  the  British  flag. 
Graeme  Park  was  confiscated  on  the  ground  of  Fergus- 
son  being  a  Loyalist,  and  hence  attainted  of  high  treason, 
but  was  ultimately  restored  to  IVIrs.  Fergusson  by  act  of 
Assembly.  In  1791  her  nephew,  a  certain  Doctor 
William  Smith,  bought  Graeme  Park,  and  after  disposing 
of  several  tracts  sold  the  balance  along  with  the  Hall 
to  Samuel  Penrose,  whose  descendants  still  own  it. 


THE  IVY 

OGONTZ,   CHELTENHAM  TOW'NSHIP 
WALL— SHOEMAKER— BOSLER 


HE  IVY  stands  in  the  midst  of  the 
village  of  Shoemakertown,  now 
called  Ogontz,  in  Montgomery- 
County  at  the  corner  of  Old  York 
Road  and  Church  Road.  The 
smaller  part  of  the  house  was  built 
about  1682  by  Richard  Wall,  who 
bought  six  hundred  acres  of  land  in  Cheltenham  Town- 
ship, then  Philadelphia  County,  extending  across  the 
township  from  the  Abington  township  line  on  the  north 
to  the  Bristol  line  on  the  south  and  covering  the  site  of 
that  which  later  became  known  as  Shoemakertown. 

He  had  married  Joane  Wheel,  August  1,  1658,  at 
Gloucester  Monthly  Meeting  of  Friends  in  England  and 
came  to  this  country  in  1682  with  a  company  of  Friends 
from  Cheltenham,  England,  his  wife,  his  son  Richard 
Wall,  Jr.,  and  his  wife  Rachel  and  their  daughter  Sarah. 
His  certificate  was  received  by  Philadelphia  INIonthly 
Meeting  and  reads: 

Richard  Wall,  his  certificate  was  read  in  the  Monthly  Meeting 
of  Philadelphia  and  accepted,  which  was  given  him  by  the  Monthly 
Meeting  held  at  ye  house  of  Edward  Edwards,  of  Stock  Orchard 
in  ye  County  of  Gloucester  the  26th.  Day  of  the  4th.  Month 
1682,  and  subscribed  by  Charles  Toney,  Giles  King,  Edwd 
Waters,  Joseph  Underhill  and  several  others. 

The  son,  Richard  Wall,  Jr.,  bought  one  hundred 
acres  of  land  adjoining  his  father's  and  also  a  large  tract 


20 


305 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   rillLADELPHIA 


in  Chester  County.     He  died  intestate  February  6,  1089. 
Friends'  jNfeetings  in  these  early  days  were  held  at 
the  houses  of  the  members  and  Richard  Wall's  house  was 
so  selected  as  the  following  minute  shows: 

At  a  Mo-Meeting  held  at  Sarah  Searys,  ye  3d  of  10  mo.  1683. 
At  request  of  Some  ffriends  belonging  to  this  Meeting  A  Meeting 
was  Settled  Near  Cheltenham  at  the  house  of  Richard  Walln. 

The  chief  historical  interest  in  this  house  is,  there- 
fore, the  fact  that  it  was  one  of  the  very  earliest  meeting- 
houses in  Philadelphia  County  whose  location  can  with 
certainty  be  ascertained,  and  the  only  one  still  standing. 
The  Boarded  Meeting-house  erected  in  Philadelphia  the 
latter  part  of  1682  antedates  it,  but  its  location  is  un- 
known, while  the  Bank  Meeting  was  not  built  until  1685. 
It  would  also  seem  that  Richard  Wall's  house  was  the 
oldest  meeting  place  of  the  Society  of  Friends  still  stand- 
ing on  this  continent,  although  there  is  one  on  Conanicut 
Island,  Rhode  Island,  which  has  some  claim  to  this  dis- 
tinction. It  was  soon  made  a  Monthly  Meeting  as  the 
records  show; 

At  A  mo-Meeting,  ye  23d.  of  12th.  mo.  1685.  It  is  agreed 
that  this  Mo-Meeting,  for  time  to  come  shall  be  held  at  three 
Several  places,  that  is  to  say  ye  next  to  be  held  at  ye  house  of 
Richard  Walln :  and  ye  next  at  John  Harts  and  ye  Next  at  Ox- 
ford, and  so  in  Course. 

The  next  year  it  was  settled  "  at  ye  house  of  Richard 
Wall  ye  Elder:  on  ye  last  5th.  day  of  ye  ^lonth:"  Many 
marriages  of  the  early  settlers  were  solemnised  at  "  the 
house  of  Kichard  Wall,"   it   being  the   custom   among 

306 


THE   IVY 


Friends  then,  as  now,  that  such  events  should  invariably 
occur  in  a  Meeting  for  Worship  of  the  Society.    The  first 
was  that  of  James  Pratt  and  Mary  Brodwell,  Septem- 
ber 4,  1689.     Perhaps  the  most  important  of  these  early 
marriages  was  that  of  Richard's  only  granddaughter  and 
heir,  Sarah  Wall,  to  George  Shoemaker,  Jr.,  the  certifi- 
cate of  which  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Historical 
Society  of  Pennsylvania.     George  was  the  son  of  George 
Shoemaker  and  Sarah,  his  wife,  who  sailed  with  their 
seven  children,  in  the  ship  Jefferies,  Thomas  Arnold, 
master,  from  London,  landing  at  Chester,  January  20, 
1688.     The  father  died  at  sea  of  the  smallpox,  but  the 
rest  established  themselves  at  Germantown  and  were  the 
progenitors  of  the  branch  of  that  family  most  numerous 
to-day.     Another  important  marriage  in  this  house  was 
that  of  Joseph  Mather,  of  Bucks  County,  and  Elizabeth 
Russell,  on  June  8,  1697.     To  this  certificate  we  find  at- 
tached the  names  of  John  Russell,  Henry  Baker,  Phineas 
Pemberton,    Samuel    Richardson,    Evan    Morris,    John 
Jones,  Isaac  Norris,  and  many  other  prominent  Friends, 
ancestors    of    their    families    in    this    country.     Joseph 
Mather  was  the  son  of  Richard  and  Elizabeth  Mather  of 
RadclifFe,  Lancashire,  England,  came  over  with  the  Pem- 
bertons,  and  was  the  progenitor  of  the  Mather  family  in 
these  parts.    Elizabeth  Russell  was  the  daughter  of  John 
Russell  who  bought  three  hundred  acres  extending  across 
Cheltenham  Township  near  Wall's.     At  his  death  it  de- 
scended to  his  only  child,  Elizabeth,  and  so  became  known 
as  the  Mather  tract.     On  the  other  side  of  Richard  Wall 
was  the  home  and  land  of  Toby  Leech,  a  fellow-immi- 
grant  from   Cheltenham,   England.     Toby  was   a   very 

307 


COLOMAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

proniiiieiit  man,  a  Provincial  Councillor,  and  the  owner, 
at  his  death,  of  several  thousand  acres  in  the  State.  It 
was  to  this  little  gathering  of  Friends  that  the  first  pro- 
test against  slavery  was  addressed  by  the  Germantown 
Friends,  headed  by  Francis  Daniel  Pastorius,  February 
18,  1688. 

A  few  years  after  the  marriage  of  his  granddaughter 
Richard  Wall  made  his  will.  That  he  was  a  deeply  con- 
cerned Friend  is  attested  by  the  Meeting  being  held  in 
his  house  and  by  the  certificate  granted  to  him  by  the 
Monthly  Meeting,  September  24,  1690,  to  "  travel 
towards  Mar3dand."  The  opening  clause  of  his  will  is 
of  an  earnest  religious  nature  and  he  then  proceeds  to 
leave  his  property  to  his  'vvife  and  thereafter  to  his  grand- 
daughter, Sarah  Shoemaker.  If  the  latter  should  die  he 
bequeaths  his  estate  to  his  Monthly  Meeting  and  fur- 
ther directs  that  a  tract  of  six  acres  at  the  south  end  of 
his  plantation,  and  now  lying  on  Cheltenham  Avenue,  be 
given  to  the  Meeting  for  a  burying  place. 

He  died  January  26,  1698,  and  his  Avife,  December  2, 
1701,  and  both  were  buried  in  the  ground  above  spoken  of. 

These  grounds  have  long  gone  by  the  name  of  the 
Shoemaker  Burying  Ground,  so  many  of  that  name  hav- 
ing been  buried  there.  About  a  half  acre  of  the  six  is 
enclosed  by  a  stone  wall  and  is  now  owned  and  cared  for 
by  the  Abington  Monthly  Meeting  which,  in  1700,  suc- 
ceeded Cheltenham  Meeting  held  at  The  Ivy,  through 
gift  of  John  Barnes,  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  near 
the  village  of  Jenkintown. 

In  those  days  country  people  wore  leather  breeches, 
which  were  very  suitable  for  the  rough  work  about  the 

308 


THE  IVY 


farms.  In  the  summer  these  garments  were  hung  away 
in  the  attic.  One  day  a  Friend  suddenly  arose  in  the 
gallery  of  Abington  Meeting  and  exclaiming,  "  Friends, 
the  word  of  the  Lord  is  in  my  mouth  but  the  devil  is  in 
my  breeches,"  made  a  dash  for  the  door.  Bees  had  made 
a  hive  in  his  clothes  during  their  retirement  and  the 
warmth  of  his  body  had  brought  them  out. 

George  Shoemaker  was  one  of  those  who  petitioned 
the  Provincial  Council,  in  1711,  for  the  laying  out  of  the 
Old  York  Road,  and  was  appointed  on  the  jury  to  do  it. 
The  course  is  described  in  the  order  of  the  council  thus: 

To  begin  at  the  side  of  the  River  Delaware  opposite  to  John 
Reading's  landing,  from  thence  by  the  most  direct  and  conve- 
nient course  to  Buckingham  meeting  house,  and  from  thence  the 
most  direct  and  convenient  course  through  the  lands  of  Thomas 
Watson,  and  from  thence  ye  most  direct  and  convenient  course 
to  Stephen  Jemkins  on  the  west  side  of  his  house,  and  from  thence 
the  most  direct  and  convenient  course  by  the  house  late  of  Richard 
Wall,  now  in  possession  of  George  Shoemaker  and  so  forward 
by  the  most  direct  and  convenient  courses  to  Phila. 

The  first  stage  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
was,  however,  not  set  up  until  1756,  and  made  the  run 
in  three  days  at  two  pence  a  mile.  On  summer  days  the 
stages  usually  made  forty  miles,  but  in  winter,  when  the 
snow  was  deep  and  the  darkness  came  on  early  in  the 
afternoon,  rarely  more  than  twenty-five.  At  one  season 
of  the  year  the  traveller  was  oppressed  by  the  heat  and 
half  choked  by  the  dust,  while  at  another  he  could  scarce 
keep  from  freezing.  Generally  put  down  at  an  inn  about 
ten  at  night,  cramped  and  weary,  he  ate  a  frugal  supper 

309 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   rillLADELPIIIA 

and  betook  himself  to  bed,  with  a  notice  to  the  landlord 
that  he  would  be  called  at  three  the  next  morning.  At 
this  time,  rain,  snow,  or  fair,  he  was  forced  to  rise  and 
make  ready  by  the  light  of  a  horn-lantern  or  a  farthing 
candle  for  another  eighteen-hour  ride,  when  horses  were 
changed.  Sometimes,  too,  he  was  forced  to  get  down 
and  lift  the  coach  out  of  a  quagmire  or  a  rut.  Thomas 
Twining,  travelling  in  America  in  1795,  says  that  the 
waggon  in  which  he  rode  was  a  long  car  with  four  benches 
holding  nine  passengers  and  a  driver.  The  light  roof 
was  supported  by  eight  slender  pillars  and  from  it  hung 
three  leather  curtains  rolled  up  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
passengers.  There  was  no  place  for  luggage  except  in 
front  of  the  passengers,  which  made  the  riding  very 
uncomfortable. 

George  Shoemaker,  besides  managing  his  farm  of 
nearly  one  thousand  acres  in  the  heart  of  what  is  now 
Chelten  Hills,  was  also  a  tanner.  At  his  death  the  in- 
ventory of  his  estate  showed  eleven  cows,  ten  horses,  nine 
pigs,  and  forty-one  sheep,  besides  a  large  amount  of  hay, 
grain,  hides,  and  implements.  He  had  thirteen  children, 
and  they  married  into  the  families  of  Levering,  Penrose, 
Conrad,  White,  Cleaver,  De  La  Plain,  Thompson, 
Williams,  Roberts,  Phij^ps,  and  Livezey,  so  that  his  de- 
scendants are  very  numerous,  a  grandson,  Benjamin 
Shoemaker,  becoming  Mayor  of  Philadelphia  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Provincial  Council.  George's  son  Isaac  mar- 
ried Dorothy  Penrose,  who,  soon  after  her  husband's 
death,  entered  into  an  agreement,  November  6,  1746,  with 
Richard  Mather,  the  husband  of  her  sister,  Sarah  Pen- 
rose, and  John  Tyson,  of  Abington,  to  build  the  mill  which 

310 


THE   I\^ 


still  stands  adjacent  to  the  house  "  opposite  ye  said  Doro- 
thy's garden,  at  the  place  of  said  crick,  commonly  called 
and  known  by  the  name  of  ye  Sheeps  Washing  Place." 
Her  descendants  operated  the  mill  for  the  making  of 
flour  until  about  1846,  when  the  estate  was  sold  to 
Charles  Bosler,  of  Cheltenham,  who  passed  it  on  to  his 
son,  the  late  Joseph  Bosler,  Assistant  Treasurer  of  the 
United  States  at  Philadelphia.  Mrs.  Bosler  still  lives  at 
The  Ivy,  and  the  mill,  modernised  and  enlarged,  is  still 
running. 


URY  HOUSE 

FOX  CHASE 
TAYLOR— FISHER— CRAWFORD 


HE  Swedes  contributed  no  quota 
of  Pennsylvania's  population  com- 
parable to  the  other  elements  that 
entered  into  it,  but  their  benefit  to 
the  Colony  is  not  to  be  measured 
by  a  numerical  yardstick.  Even 
though  their  settlements  along  the 
Delaware  persisted  after  their  political  severance  from 
the  parent  country,  they  were  soon  merged  in  the  life  of 
later  and  more  numerous  settlers.  When  they  disap- 
peared as  a  social  and  political  entity,  however,  they  left 
ineradicable  traces  of  their  brief  occupation  and  the  com- 
munities that  once  owed  allegiance  to  the  Swedish  Crown 
are  the  richer  for  their  presence;  their  influence  through 
their  valued  descendants  has  persisted  to  our  own  day 
with  truly  characteristic  Scandinavian  vigour. 

The  few  Swedish  buildings  that  remain  belong  almost 
altogether  to  the  seventeenth  century,  and  of  these  Ury 
House  at  Fox  Chase  is  one,  a  building  much  changed 
and  added  to  as  the  years  have  passed  but,  nevertheless, 
Swedish  at  the  core.  Almost  hidden  amid  ancient  trees, 
it  stands  on  gently  rolling  land  near  Pine  Road.  As  to 
its  earlier  history,  the  date  of  its  building,  and  tlie  pur- 
pose for  which  it  was  designed,  there  are  no  authentic 
records  and  we  can  say  little  more  than  that  it  was  appa- 
rently meant  for  a  trading  post,  or  a  fort,  or  perhaps 
both.  We  do  know  that  Swedish  settlers  came  up  the 
Pennypack  at  a  very  early  period  and  trafficked  with  the 

312 


URY  HOUSE 


natives,  and  it  is  more  than  likely  that  Ury  House  owed 
its  origin  to  them. 

Tradition  says  that  it  was  at  first  a  fort  built  by 
refugees  in  1645.  For  this  there  is  absolutely  no  war- 
rant. The  Swedes  do  not  seem  to  have  been  in  the  im- 
mediate neighbourhood  as  early  as  1645,  and  if  they 
were  they  were  certainly  not  numerous  enough  to  war- 
rant building  a  fort;  furthermore,  it  is  rather  difficult 
to  explain  from  whom  or  from  what  they  could  have  been 
refugees  in  1645.  As  far  as  the  Indians  were  concerned, 
a  fort  so  near  the  older  settlement  was  unnecessary,  for 
relations  with  the  red  men  were  friendly.  It  is  far  more 
probable,  from  what  we  know  of  contemporary  history, 
that  it  was  a  combined  trading-post  and  block-house  built 
some  years  later,  perhaps  between  1655  and  1665,  and 
that  the  defence  for  which  it  was  needed  was  not  against 
the  Indians,  but  against  the  Dutch,  with  whom  there  were 
frequent  hostilities  about  that  time.  However,  be  that  as 
it  may,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Ury  considerably 
antedates  the  coming  of  Penn  to  the  Delaware  River 
and  its  fertile  shores. 

The  stout-hearted  Scandinavian  Colonists  would  not 
recognise  Ury  House  could  they  see  it  to-day.  The 
whole  ground  floor  of  the  original  building  is  now  the 
dining-room.  Tremendously  thick  walls  convince  the  be- 
holder that  they  might  have  successfully  withstood  the 
battering  of  far  more  formidable  engines  of  assault  than 
were  likely  to  have  been  used  against  them.  For  the 
sake  of  greater  height  and  ventilation,  the  low-raftered 
ceiling  of  the  dining-room  was  raised  at  one  of  the  many 
stages  of  alteration,  the  upper  part,  of  course,  being  in- 

313 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

corporated  with  the  rest  of  the  bedrooms  on  the  second 
Hoor.  Tlie  woik  of  the  Swedes  has  been  spoken  of  as  a 
square  tower  built  of  stone  quarried  hard  by.  Accord- 
ing to  tradition  preserved  in  print  by  a  neighbourhood 
writer,  the 

tower  consisted  of  a  curious  cellar,  approached  by  solid  stone 
steps,  leading  to  a  door  of  wrought  iron,  supported  on  either 
side  by  tremendous  stone  drillings.  Over  the  cellar  was  a  square 
room  from  which  a  steep  stair^vay  led  to  another,  and  over  it, 
with  sloping  roofs,  and  reached  by  a  very  rickety  ladder,  was  a 
garret. 

In  the  cellar  was  also  a  great  fireplace  with  a  con- 
trivance evidently  designed  for  melting  lead  and  mould- 
ing bullets. 

Early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  Ury  was  enlarged 
by  an  addition  of  some  size,  built  with  the  same  sub- 
stantial solidity  as  the  older  part.  Several  cast-iron  fire- 
backs,  one  of  them  bearing  the  English  arms,  and 
another  with  a  plain  scroll  with  the  date  1728,  have  been 
brought  to  light  from  time  to  time  in  this  newer  part  of 
the  house.  At  each  successive  stage  of  the  upward  and 
outward  growth  since  Colonial  days,  the  original  lines 
have  become  more  and  more  obliterated,  so  that  from  the 
outside  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  to  distinguish  one  por- 
tion from  another  and  assign  to  each  its  proper  period, 
especially  as  the  whole  building  has  been  stuccoed  and 
the  colour  freshened  now  and  again.  It  is  very  nearly  as 
diflicult  inside  as  it  is  outside  to  tell  which  is  which,  be- 
cause of  the  changes  dictated  on  various  occasions  by  the 
exigencies  of  the  owners.     These  many  alterations  have 

314 


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URY   HOUSE 


given  a  refreshing  irregularity,  and  upstairs  the  inequality 
of  levels  keeps  one  constantly  on  the  lookout  to  avoid 
going  on  his  nose  as  he  dodges  around  unexpected  cor- 
ners and  takes  first  one  step  up  and  then  perhaps  two 
down,  threading  his  way  through  perplexing  passages. 
The  entrance,  under  a  square-pillared  portico,  through 
a  wide  doorway  into  a  low-ceilinged  hall,  marks  the  meet- 
ing point  of  the  oldest  portion  of  the  house  with  the 
eighteenth-century  addition  to  the  west. 

Immediately  around  the  house  venerable  shade  trees 
spread  their  branches,  while  the  approach  from  the  road 
is  through  a  long  straight  avenue  of  lofty  pines,  planted 
more  than  a  century  ago.  Southeast  of  the  house  and 
sheltered  b)^  it  from  the  sweep  of  the  northwest  winds,  is 
the  garden,  enclosed  by  a  high,  thick  box  hedge.  A  box- 
edged  walk  shaded  by  a  grape-covered  trellis  runs  the 
entire  length  of  the  garden  from  east  to  west  and  divides 
it  into  squal  sections.  The  northern  half  is  laid  out  in 
geometrically  shaped  flower  beds,  bordered  with  box  and 
separated  by  narrow  gravel  paths.  The  box  is  so  old  and 
so  luxuriant,  and  has  grown  so  far  beyond  its  original 
limits,  that  the  flower  garden  might  more  fittingly  be 
called  the  box  garden.  Looking  in  from  outside,  the 
labyrinth  of  squares,  circles,  and  intersecting  diagonals 
seems  almost  a  solid  expanse  of  glossy  green  studded 
with  patches  of  gay-coloured  bloom.  Only  tall  flowers 
like  phlox  and  larkspiu's  and  hollyhocks  can  lift  their 
heads  high  enough  to  show  to  advantage,  but  for  the 
pleasure  of  such  glorious  box  one  is  willing  to  forego 
many  flowers  which,  after  all,  they  can  have  elsewhere. 
The  boxwood  of  Ury  was  a  source  of  just  pride  to  its 

315 


(OLOMAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

o^^Tiers  in  Colonial  times,  and  a  century  and  a  half  of 
orowth  has  not  lessened  the  esteem  in  which  it  is  held. 
South  of  the  trellised  walk  is  the  kitchen  garden  divided 
into  plots  by  borders  of  box. 

Beyond  the  garden,  and  a  little  way  down  a  gentle 
slope,  is  the  barn,  a  great  stone  structure  with  ample 
room  to  hold  all  the  crops  of  the  hundred  or  more  acres 
of  farmland  belonging  to  Ury.  It  is  said  that  in  old 
times  the  barn  was  connected  with  the  cellar  of  the  house 
by  a  secret  vaulted  stone  passage.  What  appears  to 
have  been  a  doorway  in  the  cellar  wall  has  been  blocked 
up  with  masonry  for  many  years,  and  the  present  genera- 
tion can  say  nothing  with  certainty  about  the  existence 
of  the  passage.  The  doorway  may  simply  have  led  into 
a  cave  for  roots  or  a  wine  cellar,  such  as  are  frequently 
to  be  found  in  the  subterranean  regions  of  old  houses  and 
which  hnaginative  people  are  prone  to  believe  the  begin- 
ning of  secret  tunnels.  The  story  goes,  however,  that 
there  really  is  a  passage  and  that,  when  it  was  last  opened, 
there  was  found  in  it  the  skeleton  of  a  man,  presumably 
one  of  the  soldiers  imprisoned  in  the  barn  at  one  time 
during  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  either  thrust  in  there 
with  foul  intent  or  else  overcome  by  death  while  trying 
to  escape  from  his  captors. 

In  all  these  years  Ury  has  sheltered  many  distin- 
guished men  under  its  roof,  and  sundry  tales  of  their 
visits  have  been  preserved.  Tradition  says  that  Wash- 
ington, shortly  after  the  evacuation  of  Valley  Forge, 
some  say  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  supped  at  Ury. 
One  of  the  maids  was  so  flustered  by  the  presence  of  the 
illustrious  guest  that  she  mistook  salt  for  sugar  and  pre- 

316 


URY   HOUSE 


sented  his  Excellency  with  a  bowl  of  salt  with  which  he 
"  sugared  "  his  strawberries.  Great  was  the  mortification 
of  the  household  when  the  mistake  was  discovered. 

As  the  cradle  of  a  great  school,  Ury  House  is  endeared 
to  many.  Within  its  walls  began  the  work  that  after- 
wards became  St.  Luke's,  Bustleton,  and  has  now  grown 
into  St.  Luke's,  Wayne. 


CEDAR  GROVE 

HARROGATE,  NORTHERN  UBERTIES 

PASCHALL— MORRIS 


G= 


I^N  the  year  1748,  Elizabeth  Coates 
Paschall,  the  widow  of  Joseph  Pas- 
chajl,  built  the  original  portion  of  the 
house  at  her  farm,  Cedar  Grove. 
Cedar  Grove  lies  in  the  Northern 
Liberties  in  a  neighbourhood  now 
known  as  Harrogate,  near  Frank- 
ford,  M^ithin  a  short  distance  of  the  Frankford  Road. 

Elizabeth  was  the  daughter  of  Thomas  Coates,  that 
same  Thomas  who,  before  his  death,  gave  each  of  his 
children  a  golden  Jacobus  with  injunctions  never  to  spend 
it  unless  actually  in  need  of  bread.  His  descendants 
prospered,  but  only  one  of  these  coins  is  in  existence.  It 
is  the  coin  that  came  through  the  Cedar  Grove  line,  and 
is  carefully  treasured  as  a  precious  heirloom. 

The  tract  of  which  Elizabeth  Coates  Paschall  ob- 
tained a  part  was  originally  acquired  in  1714  by  Thomas 
Coates  and  adjoined  the  lands  of  Chalkley  Hall.  The 
part  of  the  house  built  in  1748  consisted  of  two  rooms  on 
the  first  floor — the  present  dining-room  and  the  room 
back  of  it — two  more  on  the  second,  and  the  attic  space 
above.  This  may  seem  an  exceedingly  small  and  unpre- 
tentious edifice,  but  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  it 
was  not  meant  at  that  time  for  a  dwelling  house  but  was 
designed  to  be  used  merely  as  a  shelter  for  rest  and  re- 
freshment when  the  owner  or  any  member  of  the  family 
might  be  spending  the  day  at  the  farm. 

In  this  respect  Cedar  Grove  was  like  many  other 

318 


>      >    '  ,  >    »     1    1 


E.   K 

^  » 

ff     O 

T  < 

%    H 


> 

» 

o 
o 
>• 

H 

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0 

s 

X 
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r 


3      B 


CEDAR  GROVE 


seats  that  later  grew  to  more  imposing  proportions  and 
became  permanent  residences,  at  least  for  the  summer 
months.  In  the  first  instance  they  were,  as  they  were 
called  at  the  time,  merely  "  plantation  houses."  When 
bedrooms  were  not  needed  or  any  of  the  other  apartments 
that  would  be  indispensable  in  a  place  of  permanent 
residence,  the  "  plantation  house  "  had  no  cause  to  be  a 
pretentious  affair.  There  were  two  reasons  for  this  cus- 
tom of  spending  only  the  day  at  the  countryseat.  In 
the  first  place,  there  was  no  great  need  of  countryseats, 
for  Philadelphia  was  so  small  that  it  was  but  a  matter  of 
a  few  minutes  to  get  out  of  the  heart  of  the  town  into 
the  open  country.  In  the  second  place  there  seemed 
to  be  a  widely  prevalent  notion  in  the  minds  of  city  people 
that  it  was  unhealthful  to  pass  the  night  in  the  country 
because  of  the  humours  arising  from  the  soil.  For  these 
two  reasons  it  was  quite  a  usual  thing,  though  by  no  means 
an  invariable  practice,  for  many  people  did  live  in  their 
countryseats  all  the  same,  to  drive  out  from  the  city, 
spend  the  day  at  the  plantation,  and  drive  back  again  at 
nightfall.  Such  was  the  wont  of  Elizabeth  Coates 
Paschall  for  many  years;  the  drive  was  not  of  irksome 
length,  for  her  home  in  the  centre  of  the  city  was  only 
five  miles  distant. 

At  length,  in  1799,  tlie  second  part  of  the  house  was 
added,  containing  the  parlour  and  the  present  kitchen 
and  the  rooms  above  them,  and  from  that  time  Cedar 
Grove  was  used  as  a  regular  place  of  residence  during 
the  summer.  The  addition  of  1799  was  somewhat  larger 
than  the  first  structure  but  similar  in  design.  This  cir- 
cumstance produced  a  remarkable  conformation  of  the 

319 


(  OLOMAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

roof.  The  first  house  had  a  pitched  roof,  and  when  the 
parallel  addition  was  made  it  would  have  necessitated 
either  two  pitched  roofs  side  by  side  or  else  one  very 
high  one.  To  avoid  either  solution  the  pitch  was  flat- 
tened from  the  height  of  the  old  ridgepole  and  thus  a 
gambrel  roof  was  produced.  This  origin  of  the  gambrel 
is  quite  as  feasible  as  those  more  usually  assigned,  and 
in  this  instance,  at  least,  unquestionably  offers  the  true 
explanation  of  the  much  controverted  question  of  the 
origin  of  the  gambrel.  Wliile  speaking  of  the  roof  it  is 
interesting  to  note  that  the  little  framework  or  overlook 
that  shows  in  the  picture  was  mentioned  in  the  insurance 
survey  of  the  property  in  1792. 

Built  of  native  grey  stone  the  masonry  of  Cedar 
Grove  is  most  substantial  and  capable  of  withstanding 
the  ravages  of  time  for  centuries  to  come.  The  house  is 
remarkable  in  that  it  has  no  hallway.  Its  history,  how- 
ever, readily  explains  this  peculiarity.  One  enters  di- 
rectly into  either  the  dining-room  or  the  parlour  by  large 
doors  from  the  piazza.  The  former  apartment  with  its 
panelled  woodwork  from  floor  to  ceiling  and  its  generous 
window  seats  is  particularly  engaging.  In  one  corner 
a  door  in  the  panelling  opens  into  the  enclosed  staircase 
leading  to  the  floors  above.  Cedar  Grove  after  one  gen- 
eration in  the  Paschall  family  passed  into  the  possession 
of  the  ]\Iorrises  through  Sarah  Paschall,  the  daughter  of 
Elizabeth  Coates  and  Joseph  Paschall,  who  married 
Isaac  Wistar  Morris,  in  whose  family  it  is  still  o^vned. 

Until  1888,  when  the  present  owners,  the  great-great- 
grandcliildren  of  Elizabeth  Coates  Paschall,  found  them- 
selves obliged  to  vacate  Cedar  Grove  because  of  the  rapid 

320 


CEDAR   GROVE 


encroachments  of  the  city  with  its  noisy  factories  and 
screaming  railroads,  the  original  furniture  had  never  been 
removed  from  the  house  and  in  many  instances  from  the 
rooms  where  it  had  first  been  set  up.  The  rooms  were 
all  charming  in  their  simple  elegance,  but  none  of  them, 
perhaps,  had  the  same  vital  interest  as  the  kitchen,  for 
there  all  the  Colonial  culinary  arrangements  were  retained 
in  use  up  to  the  day  of  departure.  Neither  range  nor 
boiler  ever  found  their  way  into  Cedar  Grove.  All  the 
cooking  was  done  over  an  open  wood  fire  in  the  great 
fireplace  where  hung  a  full  complement  of  cranes,  caul- 
drons, and  all  other  antique  cooking  paraphernalia.  The 
fire  was  fed  with  wood  cut  from  a  strip  of  the  primeval 
forest  on  the  premises.  Meat  was  roasted  in  a  tin 
kitchen  set  before  the  flames  and  tasted  the  better  for  the 
exposure  to  the  fire,  and  the  bread  was  baked  in  a  big 
Dutch  oven  alongside  the  fireplace.  On  washdays  a  fire 
was  kindled  beneath  a  great  copper  boiler  that  had  its 
place  beside  the  oven.  On  the  long  dresser  were  rows 
of  India  China  platters  and  vegetable  dishes,  while  on  a 
little  shelf  above  the  fireplace  was  ranged  a  goodly  array 
of  sadirons.  Until  1888  the  kitchen  of  Cedar  Grove 
was  in  every  particular  typical  of  the  best  kitchens  of 
Colonial  days,  and  we  know  that  in  those  kitchens  some 
marvellous  dinners  were  prepared,  the  like  of  which  could 
not  be  excelled.  Outside,  around  three  sides  of  the  house, 
were  wide,  low-studded,  vine-covered  piazzas  with  floor 
sloping  to  within  a  few  inches  of  the  ground  so  that  one 
could  step  easily  from  the  porch  to  the  lawn.  At  one 
corner  of  the  porch  stood  a  pump  over  an  excellent  spring 
from  which  was  fetched  all  the  water  used  in  the  house 

21  S21 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPIHA 


as  no  pipes  were  ever  introduced  into  the  building. 
When  guests  arrived  it  was  their  wont  to  get  a  cool  re- 
freshing draught  at  the  pump  and  to  wash  the  dr  ^.t  from 
their  hands  in  the  old  pewter  basin  that  always  stood 
alongside.  This  basin,  for  the  sake  of  sentiment,  is  care- 
fully preserved,  and  despite  its  one-time  thickness  it  is 
literally  almost  washed  through  after  long  years  of  the 
successive  lavings  of  the  hands  of  nearly  everybody  of 
note  in  Philadelphia  for  a  good  many  generations.  A 
large  family  connexion  and  a  genial  spirit  of  hospitality 
that  reached  to  hosts  of  friends  brought  frequent  visitors 
to  Cedar  Grove.  Sunday  afternoon  in  Philadelphia  has 
always  been  a  time  consecrated  to  social  amenities  and 
is  still  a  favourite  occasion  for  visiting.  Cedar  Grove, 
we  may  be  sure,  always  had  its  full  quota  of  Sunday 
callers,  for  it  was  a  justly  favourite  destination  for  city 
folk  driving  out  from  to\Mi.  They  came  on  horseback 
and  in  "  chairs  "  or  chaises,  and  Nicholas  Wain,  in  the 
days  of  his  godless  vanity,  used  to  arrive  in  a  resplendent 
yellow  chariot.  The  guests'  habit  of  going  straightway 
for  a  draught  from  the  pump  was  not  an  idle  one.  The 
water  of  this  neighbourhood  has  long  been  noted  for  its 
valuable  properties  and  the  name  Harrogate  was  given 
because  the  analysis  of  the  springs  was  the  same  as 
that  of  Harrogate  waters  in  England.  Harrogate  Inn 
nearby,  which  was  established  because  of  the  waters,  or 
at  least  took  its  name  from  them,  is  particularly  inter- 
esting because  of  the  tradition  that  makes  it  the  refuge 
of  the  actors  during  their  earliest  engagements  in  Phila- 
delphia.     They   seemingly   found   difficulty  in   securing 

322 


J      1    1,    >    3   >       > 


"  ,',  ",  1, 


kuciik.n  at  ckdak  (juuvj; 
Showing  ..1,1  "till  kitchiT."  and  appiiriilus  for  op.-n  fir.-  cooking 


CEDAR  GROVE 


lodgings  in  the  citj^  and  perforce  betook  themselves  to 
Frankford  where  prejudice  was  less  rancorous.  An  amus- 
ing chapter  might  be  written  upon  the  festivities  that  used 
to  take  place  at  Harrogate  Inn  in  connexion  with  its 
dancing  pavilion.  When  the  place  was  in  the  heyday  of 
its  prosperity,  rosy-cheeked,  fair-haired  German  lads  and 
lasses,  for  whom  Monday  was  the  hebdomadal  holiday, 
would  resort  thither  weekly.  They  usually  arrived  in 
the  morning,  drank  beer,  danced  and,  altogether,  had  a 
serenely  happy  time.  In  the  afternoon  an  Irish  contin- 
gent from  (Port  Richmond  would  appear,  previously  for- 
tified for  the  long  journey  from  beyond  Gunner's  Run 
(something  more  than  a  mile)  by  sundry  repeated  im- 
bibings  of  whiskey.  Their  aim  was  to  cut  out  the 
"  Dutchies,"  as  they  called  them,  gain  for  themselves  the 
smiles  and  favour  of  the  Teuton  maids,  and  supplant  the 
German  waltz  by  the  Irish  jig  on  the  dancing  floor.  Need- 
less to  say  confusion  and  heartburnings,  if  nothing  worse, 
always  resulted — worse  did  almost  invariably  follow  and 
added  the  testimony  of  broken  pates  to  the  unwisdom  of 
mixing  drinks.  This  racial  strife  was,  of  course,  later 
than  Colonial  times,  but  it  deserves  some  mention  in  the 
story  of  this  vicinage  that  has  retained  so  much  of  its 
primitive  character. 

The  garden  at  Cedar  Grove  is  of  the  sort  that  can  be 
found  nowhere  else  save  about  an  ancient  house  Avhere 
sweet  and  sacred  memories  linger  like  the  scents  of  the 
old-fashioned  flowers  blooming  in  the  borders.  The  beds 
are  edged  with  box-bushes  thick-grown  enough  to  sit  on. 
Back  of  the  house  is  a  trellised  arbour  in  the  rose  gar- 

S23 


( OLOXIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

den  and  all  about  it  blow  in  profusion  century-old 
damask  roses  of  marvellous  perfume,  fragrant  sweetbriar, 
moss  roses,  tea  roses,  and  a  score  of  others  whose  names 
are  all  but  forgotten  amid  the  motley  throng  of  modern 
blooms.  Bv  the  kitchen  is  a  wonderful  old  milk-house 
in  whose  cool,  mysterious  depths  the  water  bubbles 
through  a  marble  basin  and  chills  the  pans  of  rising  cream. 
Cedar  Grove  retains  to-day  its  pristine  mien  and  though 
the  city's  onward  march  has  made  it  uncomfortable  and 
even  impossible  of  tenancy,  it  still  breathes  the  spirit  of 
the  generations  who  lived  quiet,  orderly.  God-fearing 
lives  under  its  roof.  It  is  a  place  replete  with  gentle 
memories,  memories  as  peaceful  as  the  old  pale  pink  roses 
in  its  garden,  and  its  brooding  charm  seems  to  tell  of  the 
comfort  and  contentment  that  reigned  perennially  on  its 
threshold. 


CHALKLEY  HALL 

FRANKFORD 

CHALKLEY— JAMES— YORKE—WETHERILL 


f)  UST  after  passing  Frankford  Junc- 
tion, from  the  train  windows  can  be 
seen  the  upper  part  of  a  venerable 
building  surrounded  by  trees  and 
situated  down  in  the  Y  formed  by 
the  divergent  embankments  of  the 
New  Y^ork  division  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad  and  the  branch  turning  off  to  the  Dela- 
ware River  Bridge.  This  ancient  dwelling  near  the  banks 
of  the  Frankford  Creek  is  Chalkley  Hall.  In  its  happier 
days  before  the  encroachments  of  railroads  and  industrial 
plants,  it  was  one  of  the  fairest  and  stateliest  seats  of  all 
the  region  round  the  city. 

The  main  part  of  Chalkley  Hall,  erected  about  1776, 
is  an  imposing  square  structure  of  cream-coloured  Man- 
chester stone  brought  from  England  as  ballast.  It  is 
three  storeys  in  height,  with  a  hipped  roof  topped  by  full- 
throated  square  chimneys.  A  range  of  five  windows  ex- 
tends across  the  broad  front,  the  central  portion  of  which, 
embracing  the  three  middle  windows,  stands  forth  some- 
what beyond  the  rest  of  the  front  wall  and  is  surmounted 
by  a  pediment  whose  summit  rises  to  the  ridge  of  the 
main  roof.  At  the  corners  of  the  offset  and  of  the 
building,  pilasters  rise  from  ground  to  cornice,  while  belt 
courses  between  the  storeys  traverse  the  field  of  the  wall. 
Within  the  great  hallway  is  a  wonderfully  con- 
structed staircase  and  spacious  chambers  on  either  side. 
The  iron-pillared  verandah  over  the  main  door  was  an 

325 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

unfortunate  addition  of  some  fifty  years  ago — in  the  best 
taste  of  its  day,  to  be  sure,  but  that  is  saying  very  little. 

To  the  west  is  a  low,  two-storey  wing  with  hipped 
roof  pierced  by  dormers.  Its  front  is  lighted  by  a  row 
of  seven  square  windows,  so  that  its  length,  as  may  be 
thereby  inferred,  is  considerable.  This  wing  is  the  older 
portion  of  the  house  and  was  built  prior  to  1723. 

Thomas  Chalkley,  merchant,  ship-owner  and  Quaker 
missionary,  who  established  the  plantation  and  built  the 
old  house,  says  in  his  diary: 

I  was  born  on  tlic  3rd  day  of  the  Tliird  month,  1675,  in 
Southwark  [London]  and  descended  of  honest  and  rehgious  pa- 
rents [the  strictest  of  Friends]  who  were  very  careful  of  me, 
and  brought  me  up  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord;  and  oftentimes  coun- 
selled me  to  sobriety,  and  reproved  me  for  wantonness ;  and  that 
light  spirit  which  is  incident  to  youth,  they  were  careful  to 
nip  in  the  bud:  .  .  .  When  between  eight  and  ten  years  of 
age,  my  father  .  .  .  sent  me  ...  to  school 
in  the  suburbs  of  London.  I  went  mostly  hx  myself,  and  many 
and  various  were  the  exercises  I  went  through  by  beatings  and 
stonings  along  the  streets,  being  distinguished  to  the  people  by 
the  badge  of  plainness  which  my  parents  put  upon  me  . 
About  this  time  the  Lord  began  to  work  strongly  on  my  mind 
by  his  grace,  insomuch  that  I  could  not  forbear  reproving  those 
lads  that  swore  .  .  .  one  time  I  remember  being  among-  some 
men,  one  of  whom  I  had  reproved  .  .  .  Being  convicted  in 
their  consciences  tliat  what  I  said  was  true,  they  were  all  silent 
and  wondered  that  I,  being  so  young,  could  speak  in  such  a 
manner;  in  which  I  remember,  I  had  great  peace  and  good  satis- 
faction ;  .  .  .  Notwithstanding  I  hated  to  hear  wicked 
words,  I  loved  play  exceedingly,  being  persuaded  there  was  no 
harm  in  that,  if  we  used  no  bad  words     ...     I  loved  music, 

326 


c 


H 
er 
o 

B 


IK 


Is 

15 


> 

er 


\    -i 


CHALKLEY  HALL 


dancing  and  playing  at   cards,   and   too  much  delighted  therein 

What  I  did  in  those  sports  and  games  I  always  took 
care  to  do  out  of  the  sight  ...  of  my  parents;  for  I  was 
afraid  of  their  reproofs  ...  I  remember  that,  unkno\\Ti  to 
my  parents,  I  had  bought  a  pack  of  cards,  with  intent  to  make 
use  of  them  when  I  went  to  see  my  relations  in  the  country  .  .  . 
I  went  to  see  them,  and     .     .     .      on  my  way  went  to  a  meeting 

at    which     ...     a     minister      .       .       .       declared 
against  the  evil  of  gaming,  and  particularly   of  cards     . 
From  this  meeting  at  Wanstead  I  went  to  house  of  my  relations 

The  time  drawing  near  that  we  were  to  go  to  our 
games,  my  uncle  called  ...  to  me  ...  to  come  and 
take  a  game  at  cards ;  at  which  motion  I  had  a  strong  conviction 
upon  me  not  to  do  it,  as  being  evil;  .  .  .  lifting  up  my  eyes 
I  saw  a  Bible  lie  in  the  window,  at  the  sight  of  which  I  was 
glad  ...  I  took  it,  and  sat  down,  and  read  to  myself, 
greatly  rejoicing  that  I  was  preserved  out  of  the  snare 
So  their  sport  for  that  time  was  spoiled  ...  as  soon  as  I 
came  home  [I]  offered  my  new  and  untouched  pack  of  cards  to 
the  fire.     I   am  certain   the  use   of  them   is   of  evil   consequence 

for  which  reason  all  Christians  ought  to  shun  them  as 
engines  of  Satan ;  and  music  and  dancing  having  generally  the 
same  tendency   ought  therefore  to  be   refrained    from. 

Poor,  priggish,  tormented  little  Thomas  Chalkley 
survived  this  unnatural  childhood  and  despite  his  joyless, 
leaden-grey  youth  became  a  real  human  being.  In  1701 
he  settled  in  Philadelphia  and  pursued  his  mercantile  call- 
ing. His  strong  religious  bias,  evinced  in  the  distorted 
vagaries  of  his  early  years,  disposed  him  to  activity  in 
the  affairs  of  Friends.  In  1723  he  removed  from  the  city 
to  his  Frankford  plantation  "  in  order  to  be  more  retired 
and  for  health's  sake." 

327 


(OLOMAL   HOMES   OF   rillLADELrillA 

Along  with  his  business  enterprises,  which  seem  to 
have  been  extensive,  he  found  time  to  make  frequent  re- 
ligious visits  even  to  distant  places.  It  was  on  one  of 
these  visits  that  he  died  in  the  Island  of  Tortola  in  1741. 
Often  he  combined  his  missionary  work  with  his  mercan- 
tile farings  and  his  diary  presents  a  remarkable  record. 
One  cannot  suppress  a  smile  at  reading  how  he  devoutly 
thanks  Providence  that  he  has  a  wife  and  cliildren  and 
an  estate,  and  yet,  the  very  next  thing,  off  he  goes  preach- 
ing for  two  or  three  months.  He  truly  was  an  "  uneasy  " 
person  and  could  not  sit  long  at  home.  Time  and  time 
again  did  he  extend  to  the  Indians  the  hospitality  of 
Chalkley  Hall,  being  in  this  respect  much  like  James 
Logan  of  Stenton.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  uni- 
versally esteemed  and  respected  and,  among  Friends^ 
affectionately  regarded. 

Thomas  Chalkley's  only  surviving  child,  Rebecca, 
was  married  to  Abel  James,  merchant,  in  1747,  and  from 
this  union  are  descended  the  Jameses  and  many  of  the 
Morrises,  Lewises,  and  Thompsons,  Abel  James,  senior 
member  of  the  firm  of  James  &  Drinker,  was  one  of  the 
consignees  of  the  cargo  of  the  tea  ship  Polly,  and  in  this 
connexion  the  fact  deserves  emphasis  that  the  opposi- 
tion to  the  Tea  Act  began  in  Philadelphia  and  not  in 
Boston  as  is  popularly  supposed.  The  violent  measures 
resorted  to  in  Boston  have  caused  the  beginnings  here  to 
be  overlooked. 

When  the  tax  on  tea  was  reduced  to  three  pence  per 
pound  there  seemed  to  be  a  general  disposition  to  pay  it. 
At  this  juncture,  when  the  arrival  of  a  fresh  consign- 
ment from  the  East  India  Company  was  expected, 
William  Bradford  gathered  at  the  Coffee  House  several 

328 


CHALKLEY   HALL 


citizens,  whom  he  knew  to  be  heartily  opposed  to  the 
measures  of  the  British  Government,  and  together  they 
drew  up  a  set  of  spirited  resohitions  anent  the  tea  ques- 
tion. On  the  following  Saturday,  October  16,  1773,  a 
"  large  and  respectable  town-meeting,"  presided  over  by 
Doctor  Thomas  Cadwalader,  was  held  at  the  State  House 
and  the  resolutions  were  adopted  enthusiastically.  The 
same  resolutions  were  immediately  afterwards  adopted, 
nearly  word  for  word,  by  a  town-meeting  in  Boston 
(November  5,  1773),  where  a  disposition  to  receive  the 
tea  had  become  general,  from  an  idea  that  an  opposition 
to  it  would  not  be  seconded  or  supported  by  any  of  the 
other  Colonies. 

At  the  meeting  of  October  16,  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  wait  upon  the  consignees  of  the  tea  and  pro- 
cure their  resignation.  The  firm  that  hesitated  to  com- 
ply with  the  popular  demand  was  that  of  James  & 
Drinker.  Thereupon  they  were  sent  the  following 
communication : 

A  CARD. 

THE  PUBLIC  present  their  Compliments  to  Messieurs 
JAMES  and  DRINKER.  We  are  infomied  that  you  have  this 
day  received  3'our  commission  to  enslave  your  native  Country ; 
and  as  your  frivolous  Plea  of  having  received  no  Advice,  relative 
to  the  scandalous  Part  you  were  to  act,  in  the  TEA-SCHEME, 
can  no  longer  serve  your  purpose,  nor  divert  our  Attention,  We 
expect  and  desire  You  will  immediately  inform  the  Public,  by  a 
Line  or  two  to  be  left  at  the  COFFEE-HOUSE,  Whether  you 
will,  or  will  not,  renounce  all  Pretensions  to  execute  that  Com- 
mission? .  .  .  THAT  WE  ]MAY  GOVERN  OURSELVES 
ACCORDINGLY. 

Philadelphia,  December  2,  1773. 

329 


( OLOXIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

A  crowd  of  citizens  visited  xVbel  James  at  his  ware- 
liouse  and  demanded  his  resignation.  He  then  and  there 
guaranteed  word  and  property  that  the  tea  should  not 
be  huided  and  j^ledged  his  little  daughter  Rebecca,  who 
was  perched  nearby  on  top  of  her  father's  hogsheads,  as 
a  surety  for  the  performance  of  his  promise. 

JNIeanwhile  other  meetings  had  been  held  and  on  No- 
vember 27  a  notice  in  the  form  of  a  handbill  was  served 
on  the  Delaware  River  pilots  bidding  them  look  out  for 
the  Folly,  then  hourly  expected,  and  warning  them  not 
to  fetch  her  into  port.  On  the  same  handbill  w^as  a  note 
to  Captain  Ayres  of  the  Polly  advising  him  of  the  dire 
consequences  that  would  attend  any  attempt  to  land  the 
tea  and  asking  him: 

Wluit  think  you,  Captain,  of  a  Halter  around  your  Neck — ten 
Gallons  of  liquid  Tar  decanted  on  your  Pate — with  the  Feathers 
of  a  dozen  wild  Geese  laid  over  that  to  enliven  your  appearance? 

On  December  7  this  lurid  admonition  was  reiterated 
on  another  handbill  and  signed  by  the  "  Committee  for 
Tarring  and  Feathering."  Encouraged,  doubtless,  by 
these  earlier  inflammatory  and  stubborn  measiu'es  of  re- 
sistance in  Philadelphia,  the  people  of  Boston  held  their 
dramatic  and  somewhat  noisy  tea-party  of  December  16. 

When  at  last  tidings  came,  on  December  25,  that  the 
long-expected  Polly  was  indeed  come  into  the  river  and 
had  reached  Chester,  a  deputation  of  gentlemen  went 
down  and  intercepted  her  at  Gloucester  Point.  This  was 
as  far  as  she  ever  got.  On  Monday  morning,  December 
27,  on  an  hour's  notice,  a  town  meeting  was  called  at  the 
State    House — it    was    so    crowded    that    the    people 

330 


CHALKLEY  HALL 


had  to  adjourn  to  the  adjacent  square— and  it  was 
forthwith  resolved,  among  other  things,  that  "  Cap- 
tain Ayres  shall  neither  enter  nor  report  his  vessel  at  the 
Custom  House,"  and  "  shall  carry  back  the  Tea  imme- 
diately." He  was  allowed  to  stay  in  the  city  till  the 
following  day  to  secure  the  necessary  supplies  and  was 
then  packed  speedily  off.  Thus  ended  Philadelphia's 
tea  episode  without  any  noisy  outburst  or  tumult. 

It  was  Abel  James  who  built  the  main  portion  of 
Chalkley  Hall.  "  When  thrown  out  of  business  by  the 
.  .  .  War  he  kept  up  his  spirits  as  long  as  he  could 
find  employment  for  half  the  neighbouring  village  of 
Frankford,  in  rebuilding  "  the  seat  his  wife  had  inherited 
from  her  father.  It  is  not  known  who  the  architect  was, 
but  he  was  probably  English,  as  the  firm  was  English  in 
its  connexion  and  Loyalist  in  all  its  later  tendencies. 
Furthermore,  the  house  has  not  the  usual  lines  of  a 
Colonial  country  house;  it  is  of  quite  different  type  and 
has  rather  the  princely  breadth  we  find  in  English 
Georgian  seats. 

In  Revolutionary  times  many  interesting  things  hap- 
pened in  the  vicinity  and,  as  Chalkley  Hall  was  on  debat- 
able ground  while  the  British  held  Philadelphia,  its  occu- 
pants had  some  thrilling  experiences.  Once  ]Mrs.  James 
had  provided  an  ample  dinner  for  some  half-starved 
American  soldiers  who  had  presented  themselves  at  the 
Hall.  While  thev  were  in  the  midst  of  their  meal,  the 
alarm  of  "Red  Coats!"  was  given.  The  Continental 
soldiers  hastily  fled  by  one  door  while  the  British  entered 
by  another,  and  instead  of  pursuing  their  predecessors  sat 
down  and  finished  the  viands  prepared  for  their  American 

331 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF  PHILADELPHIA 

cousins.  Stories  are  told,  too,  of  how  jNIrs.  James  would 
drive  tlirough  the  British  lines  into  the  city  and  carry  a 
young  pig  hidden  under  the  seat  of  her  chaise  to  some 
of  her  impoverished  friends  and  kinsfolk  whose  food  sup- 
plies on  their  own  plantations  had  long  since  been  dimin- 
ished by  unchecked  British  depredation. 

After  the  death  of  Abel  James,  Chalkley  Hall  passed 
into  the  possession  of  the  Yorke  family  and  was  the  scene 
of  much  social  gaiety,  especially  during  the  period  when 
Philadelphia  was  the  seat  of  national  government.  In 
the  matter  of  luxury  and  sumptuous  entertaining  Gen- 
eral Greene  declared  the  luxury  of  Boston  "  an  infant 
babe  compared  to  that  of  the  Quaker  City."  Like  most 
old  houses  Chalkley  Hall  has  its  ghost,  and  the  Little 
Grey  Lady  appears  now  and  again  to  warn  of  deaths  and 
other  momentous  occurrences. 

In  1817  the  Wetherills  became  the  owners  of  tliis  old 
Frankford  plantation,  and  right  worthily  sustained  its 
rejjutation  for  the  generous  hospitality  that  had  been  a 
tradition  of  the  house  since  its  earliest  days.  Rumours 
have  come  down  to  us  of  a  great  feast  on  one  occasion 
when  covers  were  laid  for  eighty  guests  and  each  guest 
ate  from  a  silver  porringer.  Be  that  as  it  may,  a  cordial 
and  heart  whole  welcome  for  visitors  has  ever  been  the 
invariable  practice  at  Chalkley  Hall  with  one  exception. 

That  one  exception  was  the  poet  Whittier,  and  he 
himself  opposed  the  obstacle.  He  made  his  visit  in  1&38. 
One  day  a  strange  man  was  seen  leaning  on  the  gate 
looking  steadfastly  at  the  house.  Mr.  Wetherill  went 
down  the  drive  and  invited  him  to  enter.  When  he 
learned  who  the  stranger  was  he  pressed  him  to  come  in, 

332 


CHALKLEY  HALL 


but  to  no  purpose.  The  poet  was  seized  with  an  unaccount- 
able fit  of  shyness,  and  after  gazing  a  few  moments  walked 
away.  His  poem  on  Chalkley  Hall  appeared  not  long 
after,  alluding  to  the  missionary  labours  and  good  deeds 
of  its  first  builder  and  breathing  his  spirit  of  inward  peace, 
especially  in  the  lines : 

Beneath    the    arms 
Of  this  embracing  wood,  a  good  man  made 
His  home,  Hke  Abraham  resting  in  the  shade 

Of  Mamre's  lonely  plains. 

Here,  from  liis  voyages  on  the  stormy  seas, 

Weary  and  worn, 
He  came  to  meet  his  children  and  to  bless 
The  Giver  of  all  good  in  thankfulness 

And  praise  for  his  return. 

And  hence  this  scene,  in  sunset  glory  warm. 

Its  woods  around. 
Its  still  stream  winding  on  in  light  and  shade. 
Its   soft,  green   meadows  and  its  upland  glade, 

To  me  is  holy  ground. 

Chalkley,  though  still  owned  by  the  Wetherill  family, 
is  no  longer  used  by  them  as  a  place  of  residence  because 
of  the  railroad  encroachments.  For  some  years  it  was 
turned  over  to  the  Country  Week  Association. 


WALN  GROVE 

FRANKI<X)RD 

WALN 


-n 


X  the  brighter  days  of  Frankford,  be- 


^^js^^l  vfo  '^jp4^]  fore  the  advent  of  a  wave  of  indus- 

?^^i*^B'i'S^  trialism  cast  its  barren  blight  of  ugli- 

^^^^  ness  over  all  the  country  roundabout, 

jv^ %/  AValn   Grove  was  one  of  the  most 

^^^^t  ^^^''i^'tif'^il  seats  of  that  district  much 
*^  ^    favoured  of  old  Philadelphians.  Now 

the  passenger  in  the  trains  for  New  York,  as  he  speeds 
bv  Frankford  station,  can  see  the  house  to  the  east  of  the 
tracks,  standing  gaunt  and  dilapidated  amid  the  stumps 
of  mighty  trees  that  once  formed  the  grove  from  which  the 
estate  took  its  name. 

Set  on  a  rise  in  the  midst  of  the  surrounding  green, 
the  east  windows  of  AValn  Grove  looked  over  a  gentlv 
sloping  level  stretch  of  farming  country  to  the  Delaware, 
in  the  distance.  The  house  itself  consists  of  a  square 
central  part  of  three  storeys  with  a  hip  roof  and  lower 
wings  with  octagon  ends  to  the  north  and  south.  The 
west  door,  adorned  with  pilasters  and  pediment,  opens 
into  a  great  square  hall  that  occupies  the  whole  front  of 
the  house  and  is  in  realitj'^  an  enormous  living-room.  A 
door  in  the  back  part  communicates  with  what  was  the 
})reakfast-room,  and  at  one  side  of  that,  in  no  way  con- 
nected with  the  entrance,  is  a  little  square  hallway  con- 
taining the  staircase. 

It  is  worth  noting  that  in  many  of  the  old  houses 
in  the  rhila(lel])hia  neighbourhood  no  stairway  is  visible 
from  the  principal  entrance  and  frequently  it  is  put  in  an 


WALN   GROVE 


insignificant  position  shut  off  by  doors  from  connexion 
with  other  parts  of  the  first  floor.  It  is  possible  that  this 
arrangement  may  have  been  adopted  to  prevent  all  the 
heat  in  winter  from  going  up  the  stair-well. 

To  one  side  of  the  great  hall  is  the  library  occupying 
the  entire  lower  part  of  the  south  wing — a  most  spacious 
apartment  whose  amply  furnished  shelves  contained  an 
unusually  well-selected  stock  of  lx)oks.  At  the  north 
end  there  is  a  mantel  of  intricately  carved  white  marble. 
In  the  corresponding  wing  on  the  north  is  the  dining- 
room  of  the  same  size  as  the  library.  All  along  the  east 
front  runs  a  porch  with  a  balcony  on  top,  much  in  the 
fashion  of  some  of  the  old  southern  houses.  The  square 
part  of  the  house  was  built  about  1772  and,  like  Cedar 
Grove,  was  used  only  as  a  shelter  during  the  day  when  it 
suited  the  owner  and  his  family  to  visit  the  plantation.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  that  was  almost  daily  during  a  part  of 
the  year.  Later,  when  the  curious  prejudice  that  many 
city  people  entertained  against  sleeping  in  the  country 
had  ceased,  the  wings  were  built,  and  the  family  spent 
their  entire  time  there  during  the  summer  months. 

Here  lived  Robert  Wain,  a  cousin  of  the  vohitile 
Nicholas,  not  gifted  with  the  same  sparkling  sense  of 
humour  that  always  made  that  worthy  a  marked  person, 
but  possessed  of  sterling  qualities  of  cliaracter  buttressed 
by  eminent  abilit}^  so  tliat  he  wielded  a  wide  influence 
in  the  community.  In  partnership  witli  his  cousin,  Jesse 
Wain,  he  carried  on  an  extensive  business  as  merchant 
and  importer,  and  in  later  life  he  also  entered  the  manu- 
facturing field,  becoming  deeply  interested  in  cotton  mills 
in    Trenton    and    iron    foundries    at    Phoenixville.     His 

335 


COLONIAL    HOMES   OF   rillLADELPIlIA 

slii])ping'  enterprises  and  his  mills  brought  him  a  hand- 
some income  in  addition  to  the  substantial  estate  he  had 
inherited  from  his  father. 

The  mode  of  life  and  the  extent  of  hospitality  at  Wain 
Grove  were  in  keeping  with  the  affluence  of  the  family, 
and  the  estate  invariably  maintained  contributed  appre- 
ciably to  the  general  social  atmosphere  of  the  city.  It 
was  truly  an  impressive  sight  to  see  the  great  family 
coach  lumbering  along  the  Frankford  Road  on  its  way  to 
town.  A  coachman  in  purple  livery  in  front  of  the  long 
body,  swinging  on  its  leather  straps,  and  two  purple  foot- 
men standing  on  the  post-board  at  the  back  presented  a 
striking  appearance  indeed.  Long  after  Robert  AValn's 
death  the  wonted  state  and  ceremony  were  maintained 
unchanged. 

There  are  not  a  few  people  still  living  who  well  re- 
member an  old-fashioned  bit  of  hospitality  that  was  al- 
ways practised  at  Wain  Grove,  but  is  nowadays,  unfor- 
tunately, too  rarely  observed.  When  any  one  came  to 
call,  the  butler  was  sure  to  appear  in  due  season,  resplen- 
dent in  piu'ple  velvet  livery,  bearing  a  silver  tray  in  sol- 
emn pomp  on  which  were  glasses  of  JNIadeira  and  a 
platter  of  cakes.  The  rite  of  wine  and  cakes  has  been 
largely  supplanted  by  tea,  which  is  all  very  delightful, 
but  still  one  must  admit  that  there  are  plenty  of  occa- 
sions when  the  ancient  custom  could  be  suitably  followed. 

But  passing  on  from  the  courtly  memories  of  resplen- 
dent })utlers  with  trays  of  Madeira  and  cakes  to  refresh 
the  afternoon  caller,  let  us  glance,  for  a  moment,  at  the 
Sunday  afternoon  gatherings  in  summer  when  a  large 
family  connexion  and  a  larger  circle  of  friends  made  it 

330 


WALN   GROVE 


a  frequent  practice  to  visit  Wain  Grove,  and  their  car- 
riages and  saddle  horses  might  be  seen  tied  to  the  trees 
at  a  distance  from  the  house.  This  Sunday  gathering 
was  customary  not  only  during  Robert  Wain's  lifetime 
but  as  long  as  his  descendants  lived  in  the  house. 
Nicholas,  we  may  be  sure,  was  often  among  the  number, 
for  in  summer  he  had  a  little  place  not  far  away  from 
his  cousin's. 

Whether  it  was  on  the  occasion  of  some  social  affair 
at  Wain  Grove  or  elsewhere,  it  is  impossible  to  say,  but 
at  all  events  Nicholas  once  met  his  match  for  repartee. 
A  woman  of  fashion,  whom  he  knew  very  well,  was  pres- 
ent— she  was  not  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends — 
gorgeously  arrayed  in  a  new  satin  gown.  Looking  se- 
verely at  her  apparel,  he  remarked,  "  Humph!  Satan 
within  and  satin  without!"  The  lady  addressed  as 
promptly  retorted,  "  And  how  can  you  help  it,  when  old 
Nick's  about?"  to  the  great  amusement  of  her  auditors. 

Robert  Wain  was,  for  several  years,  a  member  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  and  it  has  been  said 
of  him  that  "  no  man  was  more  active  in  his  day  in  all 
that  related  to  civic  or  national  progress."  During  the 
stirring  period  between  1790  and  1820,  embracing  the 
first  years  under  the  Federal  Constitution  and  the  War 
of  1812,  he  was  frequently  called  upon  to  be  present  at 
various  conferences  in  the  State  House,  the  old  London 
Coffee  House,  and  elsewhere,  held  to  advance  the  inter- 
ests of  Philadelphia  and  the  nation  at  large. 

Aproj)os  of  the  allusion  to  the  Coffee  House,  a  word 
should  be  said  in  regard  to  that  picturesque  institution 
of  life  in  Colonial  Philadelphia.     What  did  not  centre 

22  337 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

about  the  Court  House  at  Second  and  High  Streets 
centred  around  the  Coffee  House  one  square  below,  at 
the  southwest  corner  of  Front  and  High  Streets.  It 
was  the  acknowledged  medium  of  daily  intercourse  be- 
tween representative  citizens  for  the  exchange  of  news 
and  the  discussion  of  all  matters  of  public  interest,  mer- 
cantile or  political.  Thither  resorted  all  classes — mer- 
chants, ship  captains,  Provincial  officials,  officers  of  the 
army  or  navy  who  chanced  to  be  here — everybody,  in 
fact,  of  any  consequence  was  sure  to  drop  in.  It  was,  in 
short,  club,  maritime  exchange,  board  of  trade,  and  gos- 
sip shop  all  combined.  Of  all  the  keepers  of  the  London 
Coit'ee  House,  William  Bradford  was  deservedly  the 
most  prominent,  and  it  was  here  that  his  draft  of  the  tea 
resolutions,  referred  to  in  the  chapter  on  Chalkley  Hall, 
was  promulgated.  Auctions  and  sheriff's  sales  were  held 
before  the  Coffee  House  door  and  slaves  were  commonly 
there  exposed  for  the  inspection  of  prospective  pur- 
chasers. On  occasions  of  any  public  excitement,  whether 
of  indignation  or  rejoicing,  if  there  was  a  bonfire  to  be 
kindled,  it  was  kindled  in  front  of  the  Coffee  House,  and 
if  any  object  of  popular  detestation  were  to  be  burned 
in  effigy,  there  also  did  the  auto  da  fe  take  place. 

After  Robert  Wain's  death  the  family  continued  to 
live  at  Wain  Grove  until  the  location  became  undesirable 
as  a  place  of  residence.  It  was  then  sold  and  abandoned 
to  the  fate  that  sooner  or  later  seems  to  overtake  all  old 
houses  if  they  happen  to  be  in  the  path  of  industrial 
expansion. 


POKT    UOYAU    IlOlSi:,    FUANKFOKD 
Built  by  Edward  Slile^,  c.  170^ 


WAl-.N    CiH<)\K,    UtANKKiUlJ 
Fr»iri  a  painting  made  before  the  property  pu.s-sed  out  of  tlie  family  and  tlie  trees  were  eiil  dii«  ii 


PORT  ROYAL  HOUSE 

FRANKFORD 
STILES— LUKENS 


OT  far  from  Wain  Grove,  on  the 
south  side  of  Tacony  Street  between 
Church  and  Duncan,  stands  a  grey 
old  mansion  known  to  this  day  among 
the  mill  people  and  labourers  as  Port 
Royal  House,  though  whence  its 
name  or  what  its  story  they  cannot 
tell.  Dingy  and  dilapidated,  it  still  retains  sufficient  traces 
of  its  former  high  estate  to  show  what  a  lordly  building  it 
was  in  the  period  of  its  prosperity.  It  is  thoroughly  repre- 
sentative of  the  type  of  Georgian  country  house  so  many 
of  which  arose  near  Philadelphia  about  1760  and  in  the 
decade  following.  A  broad  hallway  runs  through  the 
middle  of  the  house  and  on  either  side  of  it  are  lofty 
rooms  embellished  wuth  panelled  overmantels  and  finely 
wTOught  woodwork.  From  the  doorway,  as  in  numbers 
of  houses  of  this  period,  no  stair  is  visible  and  the  hall 
is  simply  a  great  room  into  which  all  the  others  open. 
The  stairway  is  reached  by  entering  a  smaller  hall  that 
opens  by  a  door  into  the  central  hall.  However  similar 
in  general  plan  and  execution  some  of  these  old  houses 
may  be,  they  are  all  so  full  of  a  courtly  beauty  entirely 
their  own  and  are  all  so  expressive  of  the  generous  mode 
of  life  their  occupants  lived,  that  the  present  generation 
can  readily  overlook  any  repetition  of  design. 

Port  Royal  House  remains  to-day  a  visible  link  in 
the  history  of  the  connexion  between  Philadelphia  and 
the   Island    of   Bermuda,   a   connexion   in    the    Colonial 

339 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

period  of  no  mean  importance  to  both  places,  as  we  shall 
presently  see.  Some  time  near  the  middle  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  Edward  Stiles,  the  first  master  of  Port 
Koyal  House,  came  to  Philadelphia  and  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile shipping.  He  was  the  great-grandson  of  John 
Stiles,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  in  Bermuda  in  1635. 
His  father  was  Daniel  Stiles,  of  Port  Royal  Parish,  a 
member  of  the  Assembly  of  Bermuda  in  1723,  and  a 
vestryman  and  warden  of  Port  Royal  Church,  and  it 
was  near  Port  Royal  that  Edward  Stiles  was  born,  prob- 
ably between  1715  and  1720.  As  a  young  man  he  set- 
tled in  the  Island  of  New  Providence  of  the  Bahama 
group,  but  subsequently  came  to  Philadelphia,  attracted 
hither  by  shipping  interests  and  the  opportunity  of  be- 
coming a  mercantile  factor,  for  Philadelphia  at  that  time 
was  the  foremost  port  of  the  Colonies  and  her  commerce 
with  the  island  settlements  was  extensive.  Stiles's  mi- 
gration was  only  one  instance  out  of  hundreds  where  the 
islands  have  contributed  to  Philadelphia's  population. 
The  progenitors  of  not  a  few  prominent  families  migrated 
first  to  Barbadoes  only  to  find  their  way  here  a  few  years 
later. 

In  embracing  the  pursuit  of  maritime  commerce. 
Stiles  was  taking  the  surest  road  to  wealth  and  civic  in- 
fluence. His  store  was  in  Front  Street  between  Market 
and  Arch,  which  was  one  of  the  busiest  shipping  districts 
in  the  city.  His  town  house  was  in  Walnut  Street  between 
Third  and  Fourth  and  covered  the  space  now  occupied 
by  numbers  308  and  310.  His  business  prospered  ex- 
ceedingly and,  as  it  was  the  fashion  for  men  of  means  to 
have  a  countrvseat  as  well  as  a  residence  in  the  citv,  he 

340 


PORT  ROYAL  HOUSE 


bought  a  plantation  near  Frankford,  in  Oxford  Town- 
ship, from  members  of  the  Wain  family,  who  had  ex- 
tensive holdings  in  that  neighbourhood,  and  this  estate 
he  called  Port  Royal  after  the  name  of  his  birthplace  in 
Bermuda.  Here  he  lived  in  summer,  surrounded  by  his 
slaves,  assuming  the  state  becoming  a  great  shipping 
merchant,  one  of  the  "  nobles  of  Pennsylvania  "  as  John 
Adams  called  the  prosperous,  luxury-loving  citizens  of 
Philadelphia  whose  style  of  life  and  elegant  establish- 
ments completely  amazed  him  when  he  first  came  here 
with  his  strong  New  England  notions  of  frugality. 

In  1775  the  inhabitants  of  Bermuda,  owing  to  the 
distress  occasioned  by  the  Non-Importation  Agreement 
among  the  American  Colonies,  petitioned  the  Continental 
Congress  for  relief  from  the  straits  into  which  they  were 
thrown  for  lack  of  supplies  that  had  hitherto  been  sent 
from  American  sources.  Congress  thereupon  granted 
permission,  in  November,  1775,  to  Edward  Stiles,  to  send 
the  Sea  Nymph,  Samuel  Stobel  master,  laden  with  cer- 
tain provisions  such  as  Indian  corn,  flour,  bread,  pork, 
beef,  soap,  and  apples,  to  Bermuda  for  the  immediate 
supply  of  the  inhabitants.  The  cargo  was  to  be  consid- 
ered a  part  of  the  annual  allowance  for  the  Colony  of 
Pennsylvania  for  the  ensuing  year.  The  exportation, 
however,  was  to  be  under  the  superintendence  of  the 
Committee  of  Safety,  and  the  people  of  Bermuda  were 
to  pay  for  the  provisions  in  salt  or  else  they  could  turn 
over  in  exchange  arms,  ammunition,  saltpetre,  sulphur, 
and  field  pieces.  As  a  Bermudian,  it  was  natural  that 
Edward  Stiles  should  be  deeply  interested  in  the  condi- 
tion of  affairs  in  his  old  home,  especially  when  that  try- 

341 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

ing  condition  was  precipitated  by  the  action  of  the  Colony 
of  his  adoption. 

During  the  occupation  of  Philadelphia  by  the  British 
in  the  fall  and  winter  of  1777  and  1778,  Frankford  and 
the  vicinity  fared  badly  under  the  depredations  of  the 
contending  armies.  Being  in  the  middle  ground  it  was 
at  the  mercy  of  both.  This  was  particularly  true  of  the 
Port  Royal  plantation.  As  an  instance  of  the  pillage  to 
which  people  were  subjected,  we  may  cite  the  case  of 
]Mrs.  Stiles,  who,  on  December  6,  1777,  drove  out  from 
the  city  with  a  boy  servant,  having  borrowed  Henry 
Drinker's  horse  for  the  occasion.  Just  as  she  was  about 
to  get  into  her  chaise  to  drive  back  to  town,  a  troop  of 
British  Light  Horse  came  along  and  took  both  horse 
and  chaise  from  her  and  she  was  obliged  to  walk  back 
to  the  city.  Before  this  the  place  had  been  robbed  of  all 
the  valuable  furniture,  provisions,  coach  horses,  and  eight 
or  ten  negro  slaves. 

By  his  will  Edward  Stiles  provided  that  his  slaves 
should  be  freed  and  educated  at  the  expense  of  his  es- 
tate. It  is  said,  although  the  story  cannot  be  vouched 
for,  that  Stephen  Girard,  as  a  young  man,  was  in  the 
employ  of  Stiles. 

In  1853  the  Lukens  family  bought  Port  Royal  House 
and  its  plantation  from  the  Stiles  family  and  for  some 
years  the  Reverend  Mr.  Lukens  conducted  a  boarding 
school  there.  When  Frankford  became  a  busy  manu- 
facturing centre  the  desirabihty  of  Port  Royal  House  as  a 
place  of  residence  ceased,  and  its  owners  moved  away, 
leaving  it  to  whatever  tenancy  chance  might  bring. 


>    ■>     J     1 


.  .€  •         .€    .      . 


ANDALUSIA 

BENSALEM  TOWNSHIP,  BUCKS 
CRAIG— BIDDLE 


*OING  up  the  Delaware  River  by 
boat,  not  long  after  passing  Torres- 
dale  Landing  and  about  sixteen 
miles  from  the  city,  there  suddenly 
breaks  on  the  view  what  appears  to 
be  the  gable  end  of  a  gleaming  w^hite 
Greek  temple  showing  out  from  the 
thick  surrounding  foliage.  This  is  the  library  wing  of 
Andalusia,  for  more  than  a  century  past  the  home  of  a 
branch  of  the  Biddle  family. 

In  1794,  John  Craig,  a  merchant  of  Philadelphia, 
bought  this  tract  of  land  on  the  river  bank.  When  he 
acquired  the  place  it  was  merely  a  farm.  His  wife,  an 
Irish  lady  of  great  good  taste,  herself  planned  the 
spacious  mansion  with  octagonal  ends  w^hich  ]Mr.  Craig 
built  here. 

Nicholas  Biddle  married  the  only  daughter  of  John 
Craig,  and  Andalusia  became  his  residence  about  1810. 
Born  in  1786,  Nicholas  Biddle  attended  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  and  Princeton,  graduating  in  his  fifteenth 
year.  His  history  as  a  lawj^er  and  financier  is  too  w^ell 
known  to  need  reiteration.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  he  was 
a  man  of  most  cultivated  tastes  and  considerable  architec- 
tural knowdedge  and  ability.  To  his  Grecian  taste  the 
city  owes  the  Custom  House,  formerly  the  United  States 
Bank,  of  which  he  was  president,  and  also  Girard  College. 
In  1832  Mr.  Biddle  enlarged  Andalusia  and  added  the 
eastern  or  Grecian  wing  which  makes  such  a  striking  ap- 

343 


COLONIAL  HOMES  OF  PHILADELPHIA 

pearance  from  the  river.  Six  beautifully  proportioned 
fluted  Doric  pillars  support  the  pediment,  the  whole 
building  being  framed  in  a  setting  of  mighty  sycamores 
and  evergreens  of  more  than  a  century's  growth.  From 
the  steps  descending  from  the  portico,  a  broad  expanse 
of  lawn  sweeps  down  toward  the  river.  Of  all  the  many 
noble  and  beautiful  seats  lining  both  shores  of  the  upper 
Delaware,  none  is  finer  than  Andalusia.  It  is  pleasant 
to  be  able  to  say  that  it  is  maintained  in  the  best  possible 
condition. 


«   •  «  •   *    • 


t    •      1 

•  •  •   • 

•    1  » 


m 
z 

w 

a 

Hi 

Wo 
|-  z 

"<    = 

>  •■' 

cr    _ 

•1       ^ 

p    1- 

CO    ^ 


*•    t/. 

2    r 


PEN  RHYN 

BENSALEM  TOWNSHIP.  BUCKS 
BICKLEY—WHARTON-BICKLEY—DREXEL— EMMET 


EXT  above  Andalusia  on  the  river 
bank,  and  separated  only  by  a  lane, 
is  Pen  Rhyn,  the  seat  of  the  Bickley 
family.  In  174)4  Abraham  Bickley, 
of  the  County  of  Sussex,  in  Eng- 
land, bought  this  land  along  the 
Delaware  and  built  thereon  a  house 
which  is  incorporated  in  the  present  structure.  Although 
a  resident  of  England,  Mr.  Bickley  was  of  Welsh  descent 
and  hence  the  Gaelic  name  of  the  estate.  Pen  Rhyn.  He 
married  a  Miss  Shewell  or  Sewell,  of  Philadelphia,  by 
whom  he  had  six  children,  all  of  whom  died  without  issue. 
In  1793  he  remodelled  the  house  by  adding  the  front 
portion  and  later  the  back  buildings.  In  general  plan  it 
is  similar  to  the  majority  of  country  houses  of  the  loca- 
tion and  period,  and  was  marked  by  its  solidity,  spacious- 
ness, and  quiet  dignity.  In  recent  times  it  was  much  al- 
tered and  added  to  and  its  Colonial  character  completely 
obliterated. 

The  surrounding  park,  however,  is  much  as  it  was, 
and  would  make  a  worthy  setting  for  any  house.  A  Avide 
vista  cut  through  the  trees  affords  a  charming  view  from 
the  house  to  the  river  and  through  this  opening  runs  a 
levelled,  grass-paved  causeway.  Immediately  around  the 
buildings  the  grounds  are  quite  free  of  trees. 

In  the  stable  is  still  preserved  the  old  coach  imported 
from  England  by  Abraham  Bickley  soon  after  his  mar- 
riage.   It  is  a  most  ponderous  and  magnifical  affair  hung 

345 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 

on  C  Siblings,  painted  a  dark  olive-green  and  on  the  doors 
are  blazoned  the  family  arms.  The  body  is  so  high  above 
the  ground  that  flights  of  folding  steps,  that  let  down. 
when  the  doors  are  opened,  are  necessary  to  get  in  and 
out.  It  must  have  presented  a  striking  appearance  when 
all  its  upholstery  of  dark  green  hammercloth  was  new, 
as  it  went  lumbering  along  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  an 
hour,  drawn  by  four  sturdy,  plodding  bays,  a  coachman 
and  groom  on  the  box,  and  two  footmen  standing  on  the 
post-board  behind.  In  those  days  the  sixteen-mile  drive 
to  the  city  was  not  without  its  perils  of  highwaymen  after 
dark. 

Mrs.  Bickley's  sister  married  Sir  Benjamin  West, 
after  being  assisted  to  escape  from  the  second-storey 
window  of  her  father's  house  in  a  most  dramatic  manner. 
It  is  said  that  young  Mr.  White,  afterward  the  bishop, 
and  one  or  two  other  men  of  prominence  had  a  hand  in 
this  escapade. 

After  Abraham  Bickley's  death  the  estate  passed  by 
bequest  to  Lloyd  Wharton-Bickley,  his  nearest  of  kin, 
and  from  him  to  his  son,  Robert  Wharton-Bickley,  from 
whom  it  went  to  his  cousin,  Mrs.  Drexel,  and  has  now  de- 
scended to  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Emmet. 


BOLTON  FARM 

FALLSINGTON  ROAD,  BUCKS 
PEMBERTON— MORRIS 


OLTON  FARM  is  on  the  Fallsing- 
ton  Road  in  Bucks  County,  about  one 
mile  and  a  half  from  Tullytown  sta- 
tion of  the  New  York  Division  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad.  It  is  the 
original  home  of  the  Pemberton 
family  in  this  country. 

Ralph  Pemberton  resided  until  1676  at  Aspul  in  Lan- 
cashire, England,  but  removed  at  that  time,  with  his  fam- 
ily, to  RadclifFe,  in  the  parish  of  the  same  name.  His 
son,  Phineas  Pemberton,  married  Phoebe,  daughter  of 
James  and  Anna  Harrison.  All  of  these  became  con- 
vinced of  Friends'  principles  and  were  much  persecuted 
during  that  early  stage  of  the  Society's  history.  At  the 
solicitation  of  William  Penn,  they  sailed  for  America  July 
5,  1682,  in  the  ship  Submission,  from  Liverpool,  James 
Settle,  master.  Included  in  their  party,  besides  those 
mentioned,  were  Agnes  Harrison,  mother  of  James,  Jos- 
eph and  Abigail  Pemberton,  children  of  Phineas,  Robert 
Bond  and  Joseph  Mather,  young  men  from  RadclifFe 
seeking  their  fortunes  in  the  new  country,  the  latter  being 
the  progenitor  of  the  Mather  family  here. 

The  log  of  the  ship  shows  a  rough  voyage  of  two 
months  till  their  landing  at  Choptank,  Maryland, 
whither  they  were  driven  by  a  storm.  As  their  destina- 
tion was  Bucks  County  they  were  compelled  to  proceed 
on  horseback.  Philadelphia  was  a  wilderness  when  they 
entered  it  in  November,  1682.  They  could  not  find  shel- 
ter for  their  horses  and  "  spancelled  "  tliem  in  the  woods. 

347 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


Next  morning  they  were  gone  and  the  party  had  to  pro- 
ceed by  boat  to  the  Falls  of  the  Delaware.  One  of  their 
horses  was  not  found  until  the  succeeding  January. 

On  November  17,  1683,  Phineas  Pemberton  pur- 
chased five  hundred  acres  on  the  Delaware  River  oppo- 
site Byles's  Island  and  built  a  house  there  which  he  called 
Grove  Place.  Being  desirous  of  a  more  comfortable 
home  for  his  family  he  finished  one  in  1687  some  five 
miles  distant  and  more  in  the  interior,  which  he  called 
Bolton  Farm. 

He  was  the  most  efficient  and  prominent  man  in  the 
County  and  left  a  mass  of  records  in  his  own  handwriting, 
the  records  of  the  County  up  to  his  last  illness  being 
models  in  this  respect.  He  was  Clerk  of  the  County 
Court,  Deputy  Master  of  Rolls,  Deputy  Register  Gen- 
eral, Receiver  of  Proprietary  Quit  Rents  for  Bucks 
County,  member  of  the  Provincial  Council,  1685-87-95- 
97-99,  and  member  of  the  Assembly  1689-94-98,  being  its 
speaker  in  1698,  1700,  and  1701. 

William  Penn  writes  to  James  Logan,  September  4, 
1701: 

Poor  Phineas   is   a  dying  man   and  was  not  at  the  election, 
though  he  crept  (as  I  may  say)  to  Meeting  yesterday.  I  am  grieved 
at  it;  for  he  has  not  his  fellow,  and  without  him  this  is  a  poor 
country  indeed. 

Again  in  a  letter  from  London  to  Logan  he  writes: 

I  mourn  for  poor  Phineas  Pemberton,  the  ablest  as  well  as 
one  of  the  best  men  in  the  Pro\nnce.  My  dear  love  to  his  widow 
and  sons  and  daughters. 

James  Logan  wrote  to  Penn,  March  7,  1702: 

That  pillar  of  Bucks  County,  Phineas  Pemberton,  worn 
away  with  his  long  afflicting  distemper,  was  removed  about  the 

348 


BOLTON   FARM 


5th.  of  1st.  mo.  last.  Hearing  he  was  past  hopes,  I  went  to 
visit  him  the  day  before  he  departed.  He  was  sensible  and  com- 
fortable to  the  last,  and  inquiring  solicitously  about  thy  affairs 
and  the  parliament;  gave  his  last  offering,  his  dear  love,  to  thee 
and  thine,  and  particularly  recommended  the  care  of  his  estate 
to  me  in  thy  behalf,  desiring  that  his  services  in  collecting  the 
rents  with  Samuel  Jennings  might  be  considered  in  his  own, 
otherwise  he  should  be  wronged;  and  that  his  attendance  at  New- 
castle Assembly,  when  his  plantation  and  business  so  much  suf- 
fered by  it,  might  according  to  thy  promise,  be  paid,  with  his 
overplus  in  Warminster,  which  he  said  was  but  little,  and  not 
valuable.  I  was  with  him  when  he  departed  and  coming  to  Phila- 
delphia that  day,  returned  to  his  burial.  He  lies  interred  in 
his  plantation  on  the  river,  with  the  rest  of  his  relations. 

This  graveyard  was  at  Grove  Place  where  their  fam- 
ily still  maintain  it  as  a  place  of  burial. 

The  only  surviving  son  of  Phineas  Pemberton  was 
named  Israel  and  was  born  at  Grove  Place  in  1684.  He 
was  educated  by  his  parents  and  by  Francis  Daniell  Pas- 
torius  in  Philadelphia.  When  a  young  man  he  entered 
the  counting-house  of  Samuel  Carpenter,  in  the  city,  and 
became  one  of  the  wealthiest  and  best  known  merchants. 
He  visited  the  Barbadoes  and  the  West  Indies  for  the 
purpose  of  trade  in  1708. 

He  was  elected  a  common  councilman  in  1718,  alder- 
man, 1720,  for  a  life  tenure,  and  was  one  of  the  city's 
two  members  of  the  Provincial  Council  for  twenty  years 
beginning  1718.  Israel  Pemberton  was  one  of  the  most 
active  of  Friends  and  was  diligent  in  caring  for  the  So- 
ciety's property,  schools,  and  in  settling  differences  be- 
tween members,  the  Society  having  a  testimony  against 
going  to  law.     He  occupied  the  position  of  clerk  in  sev- 


COLONIAL   HOMES   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


eral  ^Meetings  for  Discipline,  was  an  overseer  and  finally 
an  elder  of  the  Society.  He  had  a  city  residence  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  Front  and  JNIarket  Streets  from  1718 
to  1745,  when  he  removed  to  the  southwest  corner  of 
Third  and  Chestnut  Streets.  This  was  called  Clarke 
Hall,  and  was  the  general  resort  of  Friends  from  Europe 
and  many  strangers  of  note.  The  terraces  and  gardens 
were  famous  for  their  beauty  and  the  prospect  of  the 
liver  which  they  commanded.  He  also  owned  a  place 
called  Evergreens,  in  1738,  at  Twenty- third  and  South 
and  Gray's  Ferry  Road. 

He  married  Rachel,  daughter  of  Charles  Read  and 
sister-in-law  of  James  Logan,  in  1710. 

Upon  the  death  of  Israel  Pemberton,  Bolton  Farm 
was  bequeathed  to  his  son  James,  born  1723.  James 
Pemberton  was  a  widely  travelled  man,  both  in  America 
and  Europe.  He  was  successful  in  mercantile  pursuits 
as  his  father  had  been,  and  was  interested  in  the  Indians 
and  negroes.  He  was  a  founder  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Abolition  Society,  the  first  in  the  world,  and  at  the  death 
of  Benjamin  Franklin,  became  its  president;  a  founder 
and  manager  of  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Assembly  in  1756,  he  resigned  his  seat  when 
Governour  Morris  proclaimed  war  against  the  Delaware 
Indians,  June  10,  1756,  because  of  his  conscientious 
scruples  against  war.  He  also  opposed  armed  opposi- 
tion to  the  British  Government  and  was  exiled  to  Vir- 
ginia in  1777,  during  which  time  his  wife  Phoebe  man- 
aged his  aifairs.  His  town  house  was  on  Second  Street 
adjoining  the  corner  at  Lodge  Alley,  now  Gothic  Street. 
Besides  this  he  owned  The  Plantation,  now  the  site  of 

S50 


BOLTON  FARM 


the  United  States  Naval  Asylum  on  the  east  bank  of  the 
Schuylkill  River  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  Gray's  Ferry 
Road  from  Evergreens,  which  he  inherited  from  his 
father.     Watson  says  of  him: 

He  was  almost  the  last  of  the  race  of  cocked  hats,  and  certainly 
one  of  the  very  best  illustrations  of  bygone  times  and  primitive 
men. 

James  Pemberton  married  Hannah  Lloyd,  Sarah 
Smith,  and  Phoebe  Lewis  Morton.  A  daughter  of  the 
second  marriage  was  Mary  Pemberton,  who  became  the 
wife  of  Anthony  Morris  in  1790.  He  was  the  son  of 
Captain  Samuel  Morris  and  Rebecca  Wistar  Morris,  was 
a  merchant  of  Philadelphia  and  a  member  of  the  bar. 
Bolton  Farm  was  inherited  by  Mary  Pemberton  and  was 
lived  in  by  Anthony  Morris  and  his  family.  He  gave 
much  of  his  time  to  the  public  service,  was  a  State  Senator, 
and  in  1793  Speaker  of  the  House.  In  1813  he  was  ap- 
pointed minister  to  Spain.  Much  of  his  long  life  of 
ninety-five  years  was  passed  at  Bolton  Farm,  and  he  is 
buried  there  with  his  wife. 

Their  son,  James  Pemberton  Morris,  married  Rosa 
Gardiner,  daughter  of  the  Reverend  William  Gardiner, 
LL.D.,  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  and  resided  at  Bolton 
Farm,  where  they  are  both  buried.  After  their  death  the 
property  passed  to  their  children,  and  one  of  them, 
Phineas  Pemberton  Morris,  resided  there  during  the  sum- 
mers until  his  death  in  1888.  All  of  the  children  of  James 
Pemberton  Morris  died  without  issue  and  the  estate  was 
devised  by  their  wills  to  Effingham  B.  Morris,  their 
cousin  and  the  present  o^\Tier,  who  lives  at  Bolton  Farm 
at  intervals  during  the  year. 

351 


OTHER  HOUSES 


Besides  the  many  Eighteenth  Century  houses  still  standing 
in  the  older  parts  of  Philadelphia,  the  following,  either  within 
the  present  City  limits  or  in  the  neighbourhood,  are  of 
interest  for  architectural  or  other  reasons: 


Engle  House,  Main  and  Lafayette  Sts. 
Neglee  House,  4418  Main  St. 
Henet  House,  4908  Main  St. 
Gilbert  Stuart  House,  5140  Main  St. 
AsHMEAD  House,  5430  Main  St. 
MoRRis-LiTTELL  HousE,  High  and  Main 

Sts. 
DiRCK  Keyser  House,  6205  Main  St. 
Rodney  House,  Main  and  Duval  Sts. 
BiLLMEYER  HousE,  Main  and  Upsal  Sts. 
Spencer  House,  Mill  St. 
Price  House,  Germantown  Cricket  Club. 
David  Rittenhouse  Cottage,  Lincoln 

Drive. 
The  Monastery  (Gorgas  House)  ,Wissa- 

hickon  Creek. 
Wakefield,  Logan  Station. 
Little  Wakefield,  Fishers  Lane. 
Gowen  House,  Mt.  Airy. 
Butler  Place,  Branchtown. 
Toby  Leech  House,  Ogontz. 
Grange  Farm,  near  Tabor  Station. 
Spring  Head,  l  ,    ,  . 
Vernon.  [Jenkmtown. 

Fairfield,   York    Road    above    Fishers 

Lane. 
Annsbury  Farm,  Second  St.  Pike  and 

York  Road. 
Forrest  Hill,  Rising  Sun  Lane. 
Digby  Place,  Fox  Chase. 
WisTAR  House,  Frankford. 
Barton  House,  Frankford. 
Huckel  House,  Frankford. 
Summer  Hill,  Frankford. 


Sunbury  House,  Croydon,  Bucks. 

China  Hall,  near  Eddington,  Bucks. 

Bel  Espoir,  Cornwells,  Bucks. 

Growden  House,  Trevose,  Bucks. 

Clock  House,  near  Cornwells,  Bucks. 

Bake  House,  near  Torresdale. 

Bycot  House,  New  Hope. 

Somerset,  Lardner's  Point. 

Lynfield,  Holmesburg. 

Hillside  Farm,  Newtown. 

Twaddell  House,  45th  St.  and  Balti- 
more Avenue. 

Sellers  Hall,  Millbourne. 

Liddenfield,  Upper  Darby. 

Benjamin  West  House,  Swarthmore. 

Price  House,  Merion  Meeting. 

Owen  House,  Wynnewood. 

Elm  Hall,  Montgomery  and  Bowman 
Avenues. 

Brookmead,  Devon. 

Foulke  House,  Penllyn. 

Glendower,  Gwynedd. 

Joseph  Evans  House,  Gwynedd. 

Riddle  House,  Glen  Riddle. 

Leiper  House,  near  Swarthmore. 

Paschall  House,  Kingsessing. 

Headquarters,  Valley  Forge. 

Mount  Joy,  Spring  Mill. 

The  Rabbit,  near  Bala. 

Fisher  House,  Fairmount  Park. 

Strawberry  Mansion,  Fairmount  Park. 

Ridgeland,  Fairmount  Park. 

The  Lilacs,  Fairmount  Park. 


This  list  might  be  greatly  extended,  but  the  names  given 
serve  to  show  the  wealth  of  old  places  in  the  Philadelj)liia 
neighbourhood. 


353 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


In  the  preparation  of  this  volume  many  private  papers  and 
documents  have  been  consulted,  as  well  as  deeds,  briefs  of  title 
and  inventories.  Besides  these  manuscript  sources,  sundry  old 
and  rare  volumes  have  contributed  fragments  of  information 
here  and  there.  Some  of  the  material  has  been  supplied  by 
the  verbal  communications  of  aged  people — facts  and  tradi- 
tions that  have  never  been  committed  to  writing.  From  the 
nature  of  the  case  it  would  be  impossible  and  perhaps  not 
wholly  desirable  to  give  an  exhaustive  bibliography.  Of  the 
printed  sources,  however,  among  the  books  that  have  been  of 
the  chief  est  use  are  the  following: 

Germantown  Guide  Book,  C.  F.  Jenkins. 

Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia. 

Germantown  Road  and  Its  Associations,  Townsend  Ward. 

The  Battle  of  Germantown,  Dr.  A.  C.  Lambdin. 

Sally  Wister's  Journal. 

Elizabeth  Drinker's  Diary. 

W^illiam  Black's  Diary. 

Jacob  Hiltzheimer's  Diary. 

Ann  Warder's  Diary. 

History  of  Germantown,  Dr.  Keyser  and  others. 

Hotchkin's  Germantown. 

Scharf  and  Westcott's  Germantown. 

Pennsylvania  in  American  History,  S.  W.  Pennypacker. 

The  True  William  Penn,  Sydney  George  Fisher. 

Deborah  Logan's  Courtship,  A.  C.  Myers. 

Travels  in  the  Confederation,  Dr.  Schoepf. 

Travels  in  America,  One  Hundred  Years  Ago,  Twining.  1783. 

Hamilton's  Itinerarium,  1744. 

Peter  Kalm,  Swedish  Traveler,  1748. 

The  Quakers  in  the  American  Colonies,  Joncs-Sharpless. 

355 


BIBLKK.RAPHY 


Tlirough  Colonial  Doorways,  Anne  Hollingswortli  Wharton. 

The  Wharton  Family,  Pennsylvania  Magazine. 

Anthony  Wayne,  Spears. 

Colonial  Families  of  Philadelphia,  Jordan. 

Penn-Logan  Correspondence. 

Historic  Mansions  of  Philadelphia,  T.  Westcott. 

Lives  of  Eminent  Philadelphians,  Simpson. 

Pennsj'lvania  Gazette. 

History  of  Philadelphia,  Westcott. 

Fairmount  Park,  C.  S.  Keyser. 

Colonial  Mansions,  Thomas  Allen  Glenn. 

Life  of  General  Anthony  W^ayne,  C.  J.  Stille. 

Old  York  Road,  Mrs.  Mears. 

Rebecca  Franks,  Max  J.  Kohler. 

The  Jews  of  Philadelphia,  Morais. 

Colonel  Isaac  Franks,  Jastrow. 

The  Fisher  Family,  Smith. 

Memoirs  of  Dr.  George  Logan,  Deborah  Norris  Logan. 

The  Life  of  Major  Andre,  Winthrop  Sargent. 

Pennsylvania  Magazine. 

Merion  in  the  Welsh  Tract,  Glenn. 

The  Wynnes,  Deem. 

Wynne  Family'  Genealogy,  Cook. 

Memorials  of  Friends,  Collections  of  1787,  1869  and  1879. 


INDEX 


Abington,   218 

Meeting,   309 

Township,  305 
Academy  and  College  of  Philadelpliia, 
87 

of   the    Fine   Arts,    17 
Actors,  early,  322 
Adams,  John,  55,  116,   168,  244 

Mrs.  John,  64 
Allen,  Andrew,  74 

M^jor,   274 
Almshouse  Lot,  57,  59 
"  American  Magazine,"  81 

Philosophical  Society,  54,   66,   67, 
81 
Amusements,    22 
Andalusia,   343 

Andre,  Major,  91,  136,  137,  249 
Andrews,  Rev.  John,  D.D.,  87 
Architecture   in    Eighteenth   Century, 

14,    85,    98,    99,    100 
Armatt,  Miss,  212 

Thomas,   214 

Thomas  Wright,  214 
Armitt,  Sarah,  208 
Arnold,    General    Benedict,    117-121, 

124,  135 
Ashhurst,    John,    163,    164,    165 
Associators,    102 
Atlee,    Mary,    182 

William    Richardson,    182 
Audubon,  John  James  La  Forest,  194, 

195,  200 
Auchmuty,  Dr.,  44 

Miss,   137 


Bacon,   David, 
Mary,  49 


49 


Bakewell,  Lucy,  194,  195,  201 

Mrs.,    194 

William,    190,    193-197 
Bala,  150 


Bank  Meeting,   155,  306 
Banning,    Catharine,   248 
Barbecues,  23 
Barclay,   Alexander,    134 

David,  135 

Robert,   135 
Barker,    Abraham,   62 
Baring,  Ann  Bingham,  56 
Barnes,  John,  308 
Barton,   John,   50 

Rebecca,   50 
Bartram,   Ann,  94 

House,  94-97 

John,  94-97 

William,  96,  97 
Baynton,    Squire,    219 
Bells   of  Christ  Church,  24 
Bellevue,   62 
Belmont,    110,    141-152 
Benezet,    John,    43 
Bensalem  Township,  343,  347 
Bensel,   George,  219 
Bickley,  Abraham,  345 
Biddle,  Colonel,   187 

Nicholas,   343 
Bingham,    Hannah,    43 

Hon.  William,  43,   45,  53,  66,  60 

Mrs.  William,  46,  64 
Black,  William,  21,  209 
Blackwell,    Colonel    Jacol),    W 

Rev.    Robert,  D.D.,  42-44,  46,  47 
Blackwell's  Island,  44 
Blockley    Townsliip,    102,    142 
Blue  Bell   Inn,  106 
Bolton    Farm,  283,  347 
Bonaparte,   Joseph,   76-79 
Bond    Family,    184 
Bonplaiul,   68 
Bordctitown,   76,  77,  79 
Bosler,   Charles,   311 

Joseph,  311 
Boudinot,    Klias,   3(»3 


357 


INDEX 


Uraiulywine,  Battle  of,  175,  192,  286, 

2i)l 
Breck,  Samuel,  68,  78,   148 
Breintnall,   Mary,    143 

Rachel,  59 
Brinton,  John  H.,  163 
Brodwell,   307 
Broglie,  Prince  de,  65 
Brookland,    27 
Bryn   Alawr,    169 
Buchanan,  James,  181 
Bucks,   37 

Burgoyne,  General,  91,  284,  285,  294 
Bush  Hill,  57,  85 
Buttall,  Martha,  153 
Byrd,   Mrs.,   181 

Colonel  William,  53 


Cadwalader   Family,    184 

General,  295 
John,  31 
Lambert,   156 

Dr.    Thomas, 
Camp  Hill,  286 
Care,  Peter,  263 
Carlisle,   Earl  of,  54 
Carlton,   257 

Carr,   Colonel   Robert,  97 
Carroll,    Charles,    248 
Carter,  Landon,   284,   285 
Cathcart,    Lord,    137 
Cedar   Grove,   318-324 
Chalkley  Hall,  17,  318,  325 

Rebecca,   328 

Thomas,  133,  325,  326 
ChastcUux,   Marquis   de,   149 
Cheltenham  Township,  305,  307 
Chew,    Anna   Maria,   248 

Ann   Sophia   Penn,   253 

Benjamin,  243 

Chief  Justice,  17,  144 

Elizal)eth,    248 

Harriet,  248 


Chew,  Henrietta,  248 

John,  242 

Joseph,    248 

Julian,    248 

Mary,   248 

Peggy  Oswald,  248 

Samuel,    242 

Sarah,    248 

Sophia,   248 
Christ  Church,   14,  29,  44,  102,  300 
Church  of  England,  45 
Cider   Frolics,   23 
City   Troop,   23,   73,   74,   179 
Ciarkson,    Matthew,    173 
Clay,    Henry,    76 
Clifford,  Mrs.,  127 
Clifton  Hall,  158-160 
Clinton,  General   Sir   Henry,   139 
Cliveden,   242 
Clunie,  113,  115,  116 
Coates,   Thomas,  318 
Cobb's    Creek,    98,    106,    158 
Coffee  House,  70,  337,  338 
Coleman,   William,   134 
"College  of  Mirania,"  80 
Colony  in  SchuylkiU,  23,  102,  106,  122 
Commerce,   14 

Contributionship,  33-35,  60,  69 
Conway,  General,  286,  295 
Conyngham,    David,    219 
Cooke,   Jay,   17 
Cornwallis,  Lord,   83,   129,   145 
Correa  de  Serra,  Abb^,  68,  207 
Coultas,  Colonel  James,  98-106,  107 
Coulton,  Margaret,  156 
Craig,   John,  261,  343 
Crawford    Family,    312 
Cresheim   Creek,  274 
Cresson,   John   C,   140 
Croydon,    189 

Cruickshank,     Captain    Charles,     159, 
160,  161 

Clementina,    160 

358 


INDEX 


Darby,  83,  98,  106 
Darrach,  Lydia,  287 
Dawesfield,  284r-288 
De  Lancey,  Captain  Oliver,  91, 
Delaney,   Miss  Molly,   149 
Deschler,  David,  225,  226 
Detwiler,  John   R.,   296 
Dickinson,    John,    173,   207,   208, 

215 
Diggs,  Ann,  301 
Dinners,  20 
Directory,   First   City, 
Douglass,  David,  89 
Drinker,  Elizabeth,  271,  290 

John,   130 
Duch6,   Rev.   Jacob,  303 
Dunkin,  Ann,  70 
Du  Ponceau,  Peter,  68,  212 
Du  Pont  Family,  184 

Easttown  Township,  170 
Eastwick,   97 
Ellis,   Rowland,    167 
Emlen,  George,  287 

House,    284-288 
Endeavour,    The,    154 
Ephrata,  274,  290 
Episcopalians,  28 
Evans,  Ann,  48 

Isaacher,    182 

Jonathan,    49 

Margaret,  135 

Rowland,  200 

Thomas,    50 

William,  49,  50,  51 
Evansburg,   St.  James,   185 
Ewen,   Elizabeth,   102 

Joseph,  102 

Mary,    103 
Eyre,  Manuel,  163 

Fairfax,  Lord,  289 
Fair    Hill,    216 


136 


212, 


Fair  Hill  Meeting,  216 
Falls  of  Schuylkill,  82,  103,  104 
Farmer,   Colonel    Edward,   199 
Fatland,  189-198 
Fergusson,  Henry  Hugh,  304 
Fermor,  Lady  Juliana,  108 
Firth,  Sarah  Livezey,  275 
Fisher  Family,  127,  312 

Joshua,  61 

Rowland,  61 

Samuel,    61 
Fort  Washington  on   Hudson,  156 
Foulke  House,  221 
Fox  Chase,  2T3,  312 
Fox-Hunting,  22,  70-75 
Frankford,  318 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  17,  60,  122,  134, 
139,  162,  173,  206,  207,  271,  302,  303 
Franks,  Aaron,  135 

Abigail,    135,    136 

David,   135,   136,   189 

Fila,   136 

Isaac,   227 

Jacob,   135,   136 

Mary,  136 

Rebecca,  136,  138,  249 
Friends'   Meeting,   Gcrmantown,  264 
Fry,  Joseph,  28,  29 


Galloway  Family,  127 

Joseph,  122,  124,  128,  273 
Mrs.,   124,  131 

Gates,   General,    175 

Genet,  Citizen,  207 

George   HI,   King,  91,   194,   303 

George's   Hill,   156 

Germantown  Academy,  229,  252,  258, 
268 
Battle  of,  245,  284,  285,  295,  296 

Gesbert,  Hannah,  291 

Girard,  Stephen,  17,  79,  201 

Glamorganshire,    59 

Glen    Fern,   267.   274,   276 


359 


INDEX 


Cllcmi,  Tliomas  Allen,  \23 
Gloucester  Fox-Hunting  Club,  23,  "tO- 

75,   106 
Godfrey,  Thomas,  207 
Goldshorougli    Family,   184 
Gordon,  Governour  Patrick,  289,  298 
Gorgas,    Joseph,    274 
Gouverneur,   Isaac,   140 

Juliana  ^Matilda,  140 
Governour's  Club,  19 
Graeme,  Elizabeth,  303 

Park,  277,  298-304 

Dr.  Thomas,  301,  302,  303 
Grange,   The,   96,    158-166 
Gray,  George,  102,  107 
Gray's  Ferry,  94 
Greaves,  Sarah,  155 
Greene,   General,   285,  295 
Greland,   Madame,   215 
Griswold,  Rep.  Court,  45,  46 
Growdon,    Grace,    122 

Lawrence,    122 
Grumblethorpe,    217 
Gunner's    Run,   323 
Guy   Fawkes's   Day,   29 
Gwynedd,   48 

Haines,  Reuben,  219,  236 
Hallam,  William,  88 
Hamilton,  Andrew,  14,  21,  31,  85,  86, 
136,  303 

Governour  James,  88 

Village,    84 

William,  86-88 
Hannon,  59 
Harrison,   Hannah,  167 

Richard,   167 
Harriton,    167-169 
Harrogate,  318 

Inn,  322,  323 
Haverford  Township,  158 
Haydock,   Robert,  62 
Heath,    Susanna,    279 
Heckeweldcr,  John,  68 


Heijt,   Hans   Joest,  289 
Hicks,   Elias,  49 
Higlilands,  The,  281-283 
Hill,  Henry,  57,  257 
Hiltzheimcr,  Jacob,   73,   106 
Historical  Society,  111,  173 
Hobart    Family,   184 
HoUingsworth,  Jacob,  106 

Levi,  73 
liolker,  145 
Hope,   Henry,  257,  279 
Hope  Lodge,  183,  277-280 
Hopewell,    176 
Hopkinson,  Francis,  31,  303 
Horsham,  277,  300-301 

Township,  299 
Hospitality,    21 
Howard,  John  Eager,  248 
Howe,  Sir  WilUam,  92,  109,  123,  128, 

136,   137,   193,  211,  226,  296 
Hudson  River,  125 
Hughes,  John,   173 
Humboldt,   Baron   von,  68 
Hunsicker,  Josiah  E.,  296 
Huntingdon,    General,    286 

Ibbetson,    Martha,    102 
Iddings,  Elizabeth,  172 

Richard,  172 
IngersoU,  Jared,  31 
Irvine,   General,   295 
Islington   Lane,   27 
Ivy,   The,   305-311 

Jacobs,   Israel,   173 
James,  Abel,  133,  328,  331 

Mrs.  Walter,  79 
James  River,  115,  125 
Jansen,  Dirck,  236,  240 
Jefferson,   Thomas,  207 
Jericho   Monthly   Meeting,   49 
Johnson  Family,  240,  241,  253,  256 

House,  239 

John,  274 
Jones,  John,  307 


360 


INDEX 


Kearsley,   Dr.,   14 

Keith,  Lady   Ann,  301,  302 
Mrs.   Charles,  57 
Sir  William,  211,  298-302 

Kelpins,    222,   273 

Keyser    Family,    290 

Kingsessing,  94,  96,  108 

Knox,  General,  286 

Knowles,  Martha,  274 

Kunders,   Thones,   214 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de,  237,  252,  259 
Lancaster,  128 
Lansdowne,  78,  110 
Laurel  Hill,  122,  125-132 
Lee,  Alice,   64 

Arthur,  64 

R.   H.,  64 

Thomas,    261 
Leech,  Toby,  353 
Lenox,  Major,  220 
Lewes,   154 
Lewis,  Henry,  158,  159 

Mordecai,  59,  60 

Samuel   N.,  61 

William,  139,  181 
Livezey    Family,   274-276 

Rachel,  240 

Thomas,  269,  274 
Llanengwan,    150 
Logan  Family,  204-212 

James,   174,   204,  205,   210,   248 
Loudoun,  214 
Levering,  Anna  C,  62 

Mary,   62 
Lowber,  Elizabeth,  265 
Lowell,   James  JRussell,   80,   146,   161, 

162 
Lower  Ferrj',  94 
Loyalists    of    Philadelphia,    123,    124, 

128-131 
Lukens,  Isaiah,  219 

Rev.  Mr.,  342 


Luzerne,  Chevaliver  do  la,  65,  132 
Lynn  Parish,  150 


Mackraby,   Alexander,  22 
Macpherson,    Captain    John,    114-117, 

135 
Madison,  Dolly,  51 

James,    51 
Maen-Coch,  158 
Manayunk,  62 
Markets,  24,  25,  51 
Markoe,  Abraham,  74 
Marshall,    Sarah,    275 
Mason,   Samuel,   264 
Mather,   Joseph,   307,  347 

Richard,    310 
Matlock,  Elizabeth,  156 
Matthews,  Jaines,  224 
Maxwell,   General,   286 
Maule,  Elizabeth,   153 
McCall,  General  George,  57 
McClenachan,   Blair,   145,  252 
McDougall,  General,  285,  295 
McKean,    Chief   Justice,    61 
^IcMichael,  James,  258,  294 
Mease,   James,   74 
Merionethshire,  48,  150 
Merion   Meeting,    151,    157 
Middle   Ferry,  84,   102 
Mifflin    Family,    127 

John,  60 

Miss    ElizalK'tli,    Kil,    162 

Thomas,   106,   168 
Militia    Hill,    277 
Mill  Grove,  195,  199-202 
.Miscliian/.a,    126,    145.    273 
Momnouth,   Battle  of,    177 
Montrcsor,   Captain,    137 
Moore    Hall,   HI.  82,    171,    183-188 

Hon.  John,   183,    188 

Judge,    17.   SI.    171.    I7:i.    183-188 

Rebecca,  82 

Sannifl    H.,   2.S3 


861 


INDEX 


Morgan,   Dr.,   53 

J  cuucii,    .200 

Thomaii,    200 
Morris,   Anthony,   281,  282,  351 

Captain  Samuel,   70-75,  281 

Jiflingiiaiu  B.,  351 

KUiston   P.,   233 

Governour   R.   H.,  291 

Isaac  Wistar,  320 

James,  288 

James  Pemberton,  351 

Joseph,  60 

Luke   Wistar,   70,  75 

JMorris,    278 

Mrs.  Robert,  46,  64,  65 

Robert,  17,  135,  145,  173 

Samuel,    278,    279 
Mount    Pleasant,    113-121 
Mount    Vernon,    178 
Muhlenberg,  General,  286,  295 
Music,  28 
Musgrove,  Aaron,  50 

Abigail,   50 

Elizabeth,  48 
Mutual    Assurance   Co.,    33-35 
Myrtilla,  29 

Napoleon,  76,  77 
Nash,    General,    295 
Neave,  John,  69 
Neglee's   Hill,   214,   216 
New  Castle,   168 
Newtown,  37 
New   York,   44 
Nichol,   James,  219 
Nicklin,  Philip,  248 
Norris,   Charles,   210 

Deborah,   210,   212 

Isaac,    167,   208,   307 

Mary,    208 
Northern  Liberties,  19,  318 

Ogontz,  305 

Old    American    Company,    88,   93 


Old  Gaol,  24,  61 

Old  Swedes  Church,  304 

Old  York  Road,  299,  305,  309 

d'Orleans,  Due,  162 

Ormiston,  122,  124,  125 

Oswald,  Elizabeth,  248 

"Outinian  Society,"  111 


Pancoast,    Samuel,   59 

Parr,  Major  James,  131,  132 

Parrish,    Susamia,    62 

Paoli  Massacre,  171,  285 

Parke,  Colonel  James,  294 

Paschall,  Elizabeth  Coates,  318-320 

Joseph,  318-320 

Sarah,  320 

Stephen,    129 

Thomas,    129 
Pastorius,   Francis  Daniel,  308 
Pawling,    John,    289,    290 
Payne,   Dorothy,   51 
Peale,  Charles   Willson,  124,  276 
Peale's   Museum,   17 
Pemberton,  Israel,  60,  349 

James,  350 

Marj%   263,   350 

Phineas,  307,  347 

Ralph,  347 
Pencoyd,    150-152 

Penn,  Governour  John,  110,  199,  200, 
303 

Granville   John,    111,    117 

John,   108-112 

liichard,  43 

Tliomas,  43,  303 

William,    14,    48,    133,    174,    199, 
205,  207,  289,  348 
Pennsylvania   Gazette,   90,    103 
Pennsylvania  Hospital,  17,  60 
Pennypack  Creek,  37,  312 
Pennypacker,    Henry    (Panncbecker), 
290,  296 


362 


INDEX 


Pennypacker,  Honourable  S.  W., 

Peter,  290,  291,  297 

Samuel,    291,    292,    296 

William,  291 
Pemiypacker's  Mills,  289-297 
Pen  Rhyn,  345 
Penrose,   Bartholomew,   174 

Dorothy,    310 

Mary,   174 

Samuel,    304 

Sarah,   310 
Perkiomen  Creek,   189,   190,   199, 

291 
Perot,  Elliston,  233 

Family,    225 

John,   233 
Peters,  Rev.  Richard,  53,  303 

Richard,   21,  24,  31,  36,  87, 
141-152 

William,   142 
Philadelphia  Merchants,   14 
Philipse,  Colonel  Frederick,  44 

Manor,    44 
Phillips,   Henry,  248 
Physick,  Dr.  Philip  Lyng,  57,  58 
Pickering,   207 

Creek,  183 
PljTBOuth   Meeting,   279 
Plumstead,    William,    88 
Point  Breeze,  79 
Polly,    Tea    Ship,    133 
Pomfret,   Earl  of,   108 
Pontgibaud,   Chevalier  de,   295 
Portius,    James,    15 
Port   Richmond,  323 
Port  Royal  House,  339 
Potter,    General,    295 

John,  79 
Powel,  Samuel,  31,  52,  55,  282 
Powell,   Samuel,   53 
Pratt,  Henry,  263 

James,  306,  307 
Preble,    Rear    Admiral,    74 
Presbyterians,  28 


297 


289, 


110, 


Price,  Chandler,  77,  79 
Princeton,   44 
Provincial  Council,  24 

HaU,  24 
Pulaski,  Count,  286 
Pumps,   19 

Quakers,   20 
Queen    Lane,    82 

Radnor,    172,    179 
Randolph,    Edmund,   228 

Family,    57,    132 

John,  207 

Peyton,    169 
Rawlc,   Anna,    127,    129 

Family,   123,  184 

Francis,  126,  127 

Margaret,    127 

Mrs.,    127,    132 

WilUam,   SQ,   128 
Read,   Sarah,   208 
Redwood,   Hannah,   62 
Reed,  General  Joseph,   118,  128 

Joseph,   280 
Reese,   Elizabeth,   156 
Reeve,  Mrs.  Josiali,  241 
Restoration   of   King  Charles,  29 
Reynolds,    John,    70 
Rhoads,    Samuel,    60 
Richardson,  Joseph,  40,  173 

Samuel,    307 

Sarah  Morris,  40 
Rldgway,    Abigail,    275 
Riley,  Captain,  68 
Rittcnhouse,   David.   263 

Nicholas,    263 

William,   262 
Roberts,   Algernon,  151 

Hugh,   60 

John,   150-152 

Robert,    151 
Robeson,    Peter,   274 
Ross,  John,  160-165 


S6S 


INDEX 


Kotclil'ord,    133 

Koyal  Irish  Itegiment,  21 

Uuclolj)!!,   Ann,   83 

Colonol  Jacob,  83 
Ruscht-nbergcr,    W.   S.   W.,   219 
Hush,  Dr.   Benjamin,  68,  178,  303 

Miss,  78 
Russell,  Elizabeth,  307 

John,  307 

Sardinia,  King  of,  53 
Saunders,    Hannah,    60 

Joseph,    60 
Say,   Thomas,   219 
Schoepf,  Dr.,  18,  29 
Scott,  General,  295 

General   Winfield,    139 
Seabury,   Bishop,   44 
Sergeant,  Dickinson,  87 

John,    280 

Servants,    25 
Sheaff,    George,   283 

John   D.   T.,   283 
Shippen,  Anne,  207 

Dr.  WilUam,  64 

Edward,   59,   206,   207 

Peggy,   117 
Shoemaker,    Benjamin,    130,   219,   310 

George,  309,  310  i 

George,  Jr.,  307 

Isaac,    310 

Samuel,    123,    127-131 

Thomas,  267 
Shutc,  Joseph,  126,  134 

Thomas,   133 
Sims   Family,   127 
Skip])aok    Pike,   277,   281,   295 
Smedky  Family,  156 
Smith,    Benjamin    P.,    62 

Cornelius,   261 

Dfiniel,  219 

Family,    184 

John,   60,  208,  219 

Mrs.  J.  Somers,  265 


Smith,  Rev.  William,  D.D.,  17,  31,  bi}- 
83,  104,   186,  187 

William  Moore,  83 
Society  Hill,  63 
Solitude,    The,    108-112 
Southwark  Theatre,  23,  89-90 
Sower,  Christopher,  219 
Sports,  22 

Spottswood,  Governour,  300 
Spring   Bank,   262 
Stamper,  John,  43 

Mary,  43 
Stanwix,  Fort,   143 
State  House,  14,  21,  287 
State  in  Schuylkill,  106,  110 
Stenton,    183,    203 
Stephen,  General,  286,  295 
Sterling,    General,   295 
Steuben,   Baron,   119 
Stewart,  Lieutenant  Jack,   138 
Stiles,   Edward,   340 
Stocker,  John,  33 
Stocks  and  Pillory,  24 
Stockton,   Richard,  303 
Story,  Thomas,  207,  208 
Strettell,   Robert,  21 
Stuart,  Gilbert,  219 
St.    David's,    Radnor,    172,    179,    185, 

187,    188 
St.   James's,   Kingsessing,   106 
St.   Luke's,   Germantown,   215 
St.    Mary's,   Colestown,   44 
St.   Paul's,  90 

St.   Peter's,  27,  44,  45,  47,  53 
St.  Thomas's,  Whitemarsh,  277 
Sullivan,  General,  191,  295 
Survilliers,  Comte  de,  76-79 
SutdiflF,   Robert,   190-192 
Swarthmore  College,  62,  63 
Swift   Family,   127 
Syng,    Philip,    60 

Talleyrand,  162 
Taylor   Family,   312 


364 


INDEX 


Tea  Drinking,  65 
Thackeray,   17,   67 
Tlieatres,  88 
Thomas   Family,   107 
Thomson,   Charles,   168,   169 
Thurston,   Joseph  D.,   62 
Tilgliman,   Chief  Justice,   68 

Edward,  248 
Town  Clock,  19 
Trevose,  122 
Turtle  Dinners,  23 
Twining,  Thomas,  310 
Tyson,   John,   310 

University,   17,  80,   173 

Upsala,  255 

Ury,    135 

Ury   House,  312-317 

Valley  Forge,   170,   176-192,  316 
Varnum,  General,  286 
Vaughn,   68 
Vaux  Family,   169 

Hill,    189-198 

James,   189-193 
Vernon,  224 
Vincent   Township,   173 
Virginia  Commissioner,  21 
Volney,    162 
Von  Schweinitz,  219 

Wall,  Richard,  305 

Richard,  Jr.,  305,  308 

Sarah,    307 
Wain,  Nicholas,  17,  24,  36-41,  56, 
337 

Robert,  335,  339 
Wall  Grove,  139,  334 
Walnut  Grove,  137 
Walter,  Anna,  62 
Walton,   Hannah,   48 

Michael,   48 
Warner,    Edward,   127 

Familv,   110,  142 


o — , 


Warner,  Mary,   152 

Rebecca,    127 
Wasliington,   George,   23,   45,    54,    74, 
75,   92,   93,    110,    118,    176-193,   207, 
211,  225,  228,  251,  258,  284-288,  292- 
294,  296,  297,  318 
Watmough,    Colonel    James    Horatio, 
279 

Family,   280 
Wayne,    General    Anthony,    17,    171- 
181,  286,  295 

Isaac,  172,  181 

Margaretta,  183 

William,    182 
Waynesborough,   170-182 
Weedon,    General,   286 
Welcom-e,  The,  153,  154 
Welsh,  Honourable  John,  2(j5 

Barony,   150,   151,  154,  169 
Wemyss,   David,   184 

Earl    of,    184 

Lady   Williamina,    184,    188 
Wentz,   280 
West,   336 

William,  279 
Westover,    53,    181 
West   River,   122 
Wetherill,    Blues,    198 

Colonel  John,  198 

Dr.   William,   196-198 

Family,  202 

Mrs.,    196 

Samuel,    195 

W.   H.,  202 
Wharton,  Charles,  61,  63 

Debora,  62,  63 

Family,  62 

Francis,    140 

Isaac,  127,  139,  140 

Joseph,  137,  139 

Robert,   278 

Thomas.   139,  272,  273,  294 
Wheel,    Joane.    305 
Whelen    Familv.    181 


365 


INDEX 


Whitby    Hnll,    98-106,    107 

White,  Bishop,  27,  30,  31,  32,  45,  87, 

IIG,  303 
Whitcmarsh  Valley,  277,  281 

Encampment,    284-288 
Whitpain   Encampment,   284-288,  286 
Whittier,    J.,    9,    332 
Wilcocks,   Alexander,  248 
Wilcox,  Captain  John,  159,  165 
Willing,  Ann,  43 

Family,    47 

George,   43 

Thomas,  53 
■William   Penn   Charter   School,  37 
Williams,   Gabriel,   172 

General  Jonathan,  19 

Isaac,  274 

Major,  171 
Wilson,  Alex.,  97 
W^ireman,  Anna  C,  296 
W^issahickon  Creek,  273 
Wistar,  Caspar,  217 

Dr.   Caspar,  65-68 


Wistar,  Margaret,  236 

Parties,  66,  67,  217 
Wister,  Alexander  W.,  223 

Charles  J.,  222,  223 

Daniel,   221 

John,  217,  224 

Owen,    223 

Sally,  221 

Susan,   212 

William,   220 
Woodford,    133-139,    140 
Woodlands,  84,  85,  86-88 
Wiister,    Hans   Casper,   217 
Wyck,  236 
W'ynne,  John  Ap  John,  154 

Jonathan,   155,   156 

Samuel,  156 

Thomas,    155 

Thomas   Ap   John,   153 
Wynnestay,  153-157 

York,  Duke  of,  53 
Yorkshire,  98,  101,  170 


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